On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> --- "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh_at_aracnet.com> wrote:
> > >> OTOH, the first two pieces of my classic computer collection are IBM,
> > >> a hand-held card punch (still in almost prefect condition), and a
> > >> wierd magtape...
> > about the size of a DECtape, but it's enclosed in a small clear boxish
> > enclosure, with tape coming out of one end.
>
> Sounds like an IBM Data Cell. I forget the model number, but the
> nickname was the "Noodle Picker" (or "Noodle Stuffer" when it would
> jam).
>
> I have one "noodle", but no box. A buddy of mine here in town got a
> handful of them 20 years ago. He laments not grabbing any boxes.
This sounds like the tape for the IBM 3480 (or 3490,etc) tape drives.
We've got a couple drives here for the Administrative group - used to have
more but they went to get salvaged (and I ended up selling the 'drive'
part of the cabinets..) We still have a 3480 and a 3490 here. The 3480
is the size of a washing machine and has a pair of drives - the 3490 is
the size of two side-by-side refrigerators, and has 4 (?) drives and a
large autoloading mechanism.
Pat
--
Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS
Information Technology at Purdue
Research Computing and Storage
http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu
Received on Tue Jan 14 2003 - 10:45:00 GMT