On Sun, 9 May 2004, William Donzelli wrote:
> > The "first" key-to-tape. A pretty useful device, really, for that era.
> > Tap data directly to tape and then load it onto the mainframe.
>
> Are you sure it was the "first" (good use of Quites, by the way)? I am
> pretty sure IBM had them for some time.
Which is why I use quotes :) I've been around long enough to know you
rarely (if ever) claim anything is the "first" of anything. This is as
far as I know, without having researched it in depth. If you know of an
earlier IBM product then I'd like to know about it.
> > But are you sure it's 7-track? I haven't been able to tell for sure on
> > mine because the head is tucked away such that you can't really see the
> > surface.
>
> I can look again, but I am pretty certain I saw only seven things on the
> head. I don't know if this is important, but these are ex-Western Union
> machines, and they liked to be difficult. Perhaps a special oder from MDS?
Possibly. I haven't been able to get a good look myself. I tried
removing a plate from the opposite end of the head block that I thought
would allow me to peer at the head but there wasn't a hole where I thought
there would be one. In the process, I dropped one of the screws for
affixing the plate to the head block down the tape take-up bin. Nice.
Now I have to go fishing for it with a magnetic tipped telescoping rod or
something (I'm not going to try tipping this thing upside down to get it
;)
> > How come RCS/RI doesn't want this? It's a nice piece of old iron.
>
> Space.
The final frontier.
> > Hopefully someone gets it (someone other than the scrapman). Yours and
> > mine are the only ones I know of, though I'm sure there are at least a few
> > more still in existence.
>
> I actually have two. I am getting rid of the "spare".
Yep, worst cast put it on the VCM (or eBay if you must). Perhaps the
Computer History Museum might want it...
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
Received on Sun May 09 2004 - 23:48:20 BST