I don't know why everyone's so hot to buy old oxidized crumbly tape when
you can buy it BRAND NEW MANUFACTURE from www.westnc.com for cheaper...
mylar too (not cheap).
* Mylar is shiny and strong. You can (almost) tow a car with it.
* Paper is, well, paper. It rips.
* Except when it's not: there are paper-mylar-paper hybrid tapes, which
were once popular; it handles like paper but is much tougher. In the URL
below, the larger picture on the left is hybrid tape.
* There are oiled paper tapes, but those were mostly for mechanical
systems.
Most "modern" punches handle mylar. ASR33's and the like do NOT, they
like oiled paper.
Many really-low-cost readers, like from the early hobby computer era,
prefer black tape, since the cheaper reader heads needed 100% contrast
(and yellow tape passes yellow->IR (incandescent) light).
http://wps.com/projects/paper-tape/index.html
PS: A quick check of WestNC's website shows skyrocketing prices! I think
they are phasing it out... maybe I should stockpile more...
http://www.westnc.com/paptape.html]
Received on Thu Oct 09 2003 - 15:47:15 BST