On Mon, 26 Aug 2019 16:01:58 -0400 Gene Heskett <ghesk...@shentel.net> wrote:
> But AFAIK, tapes don't maintain an allocation map, and we have no > tape writing tools so organized as to be able to implement such a > scheme. Not entirely true. Tape drives such as Colorado Memory Systems' QIC drives were random access, because they used the floppy controller to access the tape. Firmware on the drive translated head, track and sector selection into tracks and sectors on the tape drive. Also, many years ago, Forth, Inc wrote a driver for a DEC tape drive that did random access. The client wanted *rugged* and tape drives in those days were far more rugged than hard drives. Forth doesn't use FATs; indeed, it doesn't use files. Yes, it was slow, compared to hard drives even then. Both systems were inclined toward a lot of shoe-shining, which wears out tapes. Whether any modern tape drives have any analogous capabilities I cannot say. Today's computer trivia was brought to you by the Stonehenge Retro Computing Club. -- "When we talk of civilization, we are too apt to limit the meaning of the word to its mere embellishments, such as arts and sciences; but the true distinction between it and barbarism is, that the one presents a state of society under the protection of just and well-administered law, and the other is left to the chance government of brute force." - The Rev. James White, Eighteen Christian Centuries, 1889 Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB https://charlescurley.com
