Oh right you wanted paper tape specifically. I sketched up a design a few years ago for a punch with horizontal plates that slide in and out between the punch pins and a common, cam-driven armature. I'm an EE not ME so it never went past a sketch, but surely you could make one with a single motor to both punch and advance the tape.
-- Anders Nelson www.andersknelson.com On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 1:35 PM Anders Nelson <[email protected]> wrote: > IIRC the tape drives on the Colecovision ADAM were way over-spec'ed for > that machine and thus quite high-speed. > > $200 working on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/177209174952 > > -- > Anders Nelson > www.andersknelson.com > > > On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 10:24 AM Sid Jones via cctalk < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> FYI: I'm restoring an intellec 4 mod 40 from 1974. >> >> As I don't have a TTY or a high speed paper tape reader, I've made a 110 >> baud to serial TTL UART USB interface with handshake, and a very simple >> high >> speed paper tape reader simulator with an Arduino board. >> >> The 110/20 ma current loop interface needed some opto-isolators and a >> Atmel >> processor to do a 110 <-> 300 baud shift in both directions. (USB plug in >> serial ports don't appear to support 110 baud...) >> >> RealTerm then can be used as a TeleType(R) lookey-likey... Does need a >> bit >> of a front-end to respond to the 'tape advance' relay clicks... >> >> The paper tape reader currently loads a 'compiled in' HEX file, but will >> get >> expanded for a display and user interface to select 'paper tape' files >> from >> a SD card. >> >> This info can be shared... >> >> As a usable means of extracting info from paper tape the 'e-basteln' >> widget >> is quite handy... >> >> https://www.e-basteln.de/computing/papertape/ >> >> A useful source of paper tape punching is to find a big iron enthusiast >> with >> a set of 1960's kit. I've got a UK contact who's keeping an Elliott 903 >> going and he's made some 1" tapes from PC files. >> >> His box of tricks talks to a PC via the parallel port and a stack of TTL >> to >> 9 volt level shifters. >> >> Regards >> >> Sid >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Gavin Scott via cctalk >> Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2025 2:47 PM >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts >> Cc: Gavin Scott >> Subject: [cctalk] Re: Is there a more modern replacement for paper tape >> punch/reader >> >> A paper-tape reader is easy enough, just something where you manually >> pull the tape past an optical reader etc. >> >> I have a ~cheap diode laser cutter and on my someday get around to it >> list is to write a paper tape "punch" program that will cut a one foot >> strip of punched paper tape out of a larger piece of paper, with the >> possibility of using a roll of paper and manually advance it a foot at >> a time using the sprocket holes and some pins for alignment. >> >> On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 12:04 AM ben via cctalk <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > >> > Now that I have my 18 bit retro computer working, I am thinking of >> > adding classic IO, like paper tape. Sadly I am a few decades too late. >> > Is there anything out there to replace a punch/reader used as 70's i/o? >> > Any good mag tape (cassete tape) replacements? I would love a tiny 9 >> > track mag tape toy sized if they made one, like the wall hanging PDP8's. >> > On wish list, a flex writer or TTY video display replacement, ie >> > overstrike and underline in 2/3 size VT100 case. >> > Ben. >> > https://www.instructables.com/23-Scale-VT100-Terminal-Reproduction/ >> >>
