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Article #5022

Re: 3/4" tapes (was: 7 track tape)

#5022
From: boe... Earl Boebert
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 1990 14:51
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Oh, yes, I remember the 3/4" tapes on both the Burroughs 220 and the Honeywell
800.  The 220 tapes had two "lanes" of data, that is, were logically organized
like two tapes side by side.  The 800 tape drives had vacuum hub clamps, and
occasionally you couldn't get one of the damn things to let go of the reel.
This was more serious than it sounds, for in batch processing every idle
second was money down the drain.

The most picturesque of the 3/4" handlers that I encountered were the
Burroughs Datafiles, a.k.a. the "Datafail."  These were 3/4" tape
loops in large bins (they looked like mummy cases lined against the
wall) without vacuum tensioners; the tape would pick up a static
charge and wrap around the capstan with dire results ...
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Message-ID: <1990Oct8.145107.3931@sctc.com>
Path: mbox-mo1.pugleaf.net!gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!hagbard!eru!bloom-beacon!snorkelwacker!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!shelby!msi.umn.edu!sctc.com!boebert
References: <1990Oct03.172748.18683@virtech.uucp> <122126@linus.mitre.org> <1990Oct6.014940.582@spcvxb.spc.edu> <38880@cos.com>

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From: boe...@sctc.com (Earl Boebert)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: 3/4" tapes (was: 7 track tape)
Message-ID: <1990Oct8.145107.3931@sctc.com>
Date: 8 Oct 90 14:51:07 GMT
References: <1990Oct03.172748.18683@virtech.uucp> <122126@linus.mitre.org> <1990Oct6.014940.582@spcvxb.spc.edu> <38880@cos.com>
Organization: Secure Computing Technology Corporation
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Posted: Mon Oct  8 15:51:07 1990
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