home.social

#papertape — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #papertape, aggregated by home.social.

fetched live
  1. 🎩 Ah, yes, because nothing screams cutting-edge AI like dusting off a '70s #minicomputer and feeding it paper tape. 💾 It's as if someone thought, "Why build a rocket when we can reinvent the wheel with stone tools?" 🚀🔨
    github.com/dbrll/ATTN-11 #cuttingEdgeAI #retroTechnology #innovation #paperTape #stoneTools #HackerNews #ngated

  2. 🎩 Ah, yes, because nothing screams cutting-edge AI like dusting off a '70s #minicomputer and feeding it paper tape. 💾 It's as if someone thought, "Why build a rocket when we can reinvent the wheel with stone tools?" 🚀🔨
    github.com/dbrll/ATTN-11 #cuttingEdgeAI #retroTechnology #innovation #paperTape #stoneTools #HackerNews #ngated

  3. Here is what my tiny BASIC interpreter would write to a five-channel paper tape. There are no characters like < = > or even + or * in the CCITT-2 encoding, so they are replaced with two-character keywords or alternative characters. For example, + is & and * is !. When reading back baudot-encoded programs, these keywords and characters are translated back to their original form.
    #retrocomputing #papertape #BASIC #baudot

  4. Here is what my tiny BASIC interpreter would write to a five-channel paper tape. There are no characters like < = > or even + or * in the CCITT-2 encoding, so they are replaced with two-character keywords or alternative characters. For example, + is & and * is !. When reading back baudot-encoded programs, these keywords and characters are translated back to their original form.
    #retrocomputing #papertape #BASIC #baudot

  5. The latest prototype of my tiny BASIC interpreter can save programs in CCITT-2 encoding, so it can in theory write programs to 5-channel paper tape. I have a paper tape punch, but it has an RS530 interface, so I need a converter to RS232, which seems to be hard to come by these days. I bought a used one that is supposed to be in "good working condition", but comes without any documentation. Why am I even doing this? :)
    #retrocomputing #papertape #baudot #BASIC

  6. The latest prototype of my tiny BASIC interpreter can save programs in CCITT-2 encoding, so it can in theory write programs to 5-channel paper tape. I have a paper tape punch, but it has an RS530 interface, so I need a converter to RS232, which seems to be hard to come by these days. I bought a used one that is supposed to be in "good working condition", but comes without any documentation. Why am I even doing this? :)
    #retrocomputing #papertape #baudot #BASIC

  7. Building A Custom Paper Tape Punch Machine - The solenoid and punch side of the machine. {Credit: Simon Boak)
    Although [Simon B... - hackaday.com/2025/06/23/buildi #computerhacks #punchedtape #papertape

  8. Building A Custom Paper Tape Punch Machine - The solenoid and punch side of the machine. {Credit: Simon Boak)
    Although [Simon B... - hackaday.com/2025/06/23/buildi #computerhacks #punchedtape #papertape

  9. @sirber

    Yeah, but I think they were mainly used to load software. Think of them as early CD-ROM.
    MS BASIC was originally distributed on paper tape. Probably because tape readers are electronically pretty simple machines vs. tape players or especially floppies. They were also (I think??) more standardized than audio tape formats.

    The concrete example I know of (again IIRC) was the PDP-11. When it started cold, it was a brick; all it could do is load in bytes from the toggle switches. So you'd code in the tape loader program from memory (i.e. your brain) with the toggles, and then you could load other utilities from paper tape to be able to read mag tapes or whatever else.

    #PDP11 #PaperTape

  10. @sirber

    Yeah, but I think they were mainly used to load software. Think of them as early CD-ROM.
    MS BASIC was originally distributed on paper tape. Probably because tape readers are electronically pretty simple machines vs. tape players or especially floppies. They were also (I think??) more standardized than audio tape formats.

    The concrete example I know of (again IIRC) was the PDP-11. When it started cold, it was a brick; all it could do is load in bytes from the toggle switches. So you'd code in the tape loader program from memory (i.e. your brain) with the toggles, and then you could load other utilities from paper tape to be able to read mag tapes or whatever else.

    #PDP11 #PaperTape

  11. Classy Paper Tape Reader Complements Homebrew Retrocomputer - If you were one of the earliest of early adopters in the home computing revolution... - hackaday.com/2025/03/11/classy #retrocomputing #lasercutter #tapestorage #papertape

  12. Classy Paper Tape Reader Complements Homebrew Retrocomputer - If you were one of the earliest of early adopters in the home computing revolution... - hackaday.com/2025/03/11/classy #retrocomputing #lasercutter #tapestorage #papertape

  13. Paper Tape – With LASERs! - Though it is many decades since paper tape was commonly used as a data input or st... - hackaday.com/2025/01/29/paper- #retrocomputing #lasercutter #papertape #punchtape

  14. Paper Tape – With LASERs! - Though it is many decades since paper tape was commonly used as a data input or st... - hackaday.com/2025/01/29/paper- #retrocomputing #lasercutter #papertape #punchtape

  15. Managed to watch the latest Usagi Electric video tonight. Just fantastic!

    I have never seen a paper tape puncher in action before, and wow, just wow 😲 That thing was insane. Also, I had never really appreciated that there was 5 level and 8 level tapes. In hindsight it makes sense, I just never thought about it 🤔

    Well worth a watch!

    #UsagiElectric
    #PaperTape
    #retrocomputing

    youtu.be/jBaMJcATHHY?si=ZrH_wk

  16. Managed to watch the latest Usagi Electric video tonight. Just fantastic!

    I have never seen a paper tape puncher in action before, and wow, just wow 😲 That thing was insane. Also, I had never really appreciated that there was 5 level and 8 level tapes. In hindsight it makes sense, I just never thought about it 🤔

    Well worth a watch!

    #UsagiElectric
    #PaperTape
    #retrocomputing

    youtu.be/jBaMJcATHHY?si=ZrH_wk

  17. Completing the UE1’s Paper Tape Reader and First Squiggles - The UE1 tape reader in its nearly finished glory. Note the resistor to regulate th... - hackaday.com/2024/11/17/comple #retrocomputing #tapereader #papertape

  18. Completing the UE1’s Paper Tape Reader and First Squiggles - The UE1 tape reader in its nearly finished glory. Note the resistor to regulate th... - hackaday.com/2024/11/17/comple #retrocomputing #tapereader #papertape

  19. Building a Motor Feed For the UE1 Vacuum Tube Computer’s Paper Tape Reader - Building a paper tape reader by itself isn’t super complicated: you need a source ... - hackaday.com/2024/11/10/buildi #retrocomputing #tapereader #papertape

  20. Building a Motor Feed For the UE1 Vacuum Tube Computer’s Paper Tape Reader - Building a paper tape reader by itself isn’t super complicated: you need a source ... - hackaday.com/2024/11/10/buildi #retrocomputing #tapereader #papertape

  21. Just arrived from Texas - Papertape!

    The rolls are complete and undamaged, but unfortunately I don't know what they were used for or what is stored on them.
    Nevertheless it's a certain satisfaction to see the individual bits.

    "eBay International Shipping" is a rabbithole 🤠 🙂‍↕️

    #retrocomputing #papertape

  22. Just arrived from Texas - Papertape!

    The rolls are complete and undamaged, but unfortunately I don't know what they were used for or what is stored on them.
    Nevertheless it's a certain satisfaction to see the individual bits.

    "eBay International Shipping" is a rabbithole 🤠 🙂‍↕️

  23. Usagi Electric’s Paper Tape Reader is Ready to Hop With the Tube Computer - After previously working out a suitable approach to create a period-correct paper ... - hackaday.com/2024/09/16/usagi- #retrocomputing #punchedtape #papertape #reader

  24. Usagi Electric’s Paper Tape Reader is Ready to Hop With the Tube Computer - After previously working out a suitable approach to create a period-correct paper ... - hackaday.com/2024/09/16/usagi- #retrocomputing #punchedtape #papertape #reader