Televac Personality Computer Company
24744 McFarland Road
Versailles, MO 65084 - View Map
Phone: (573) 372-6473
Yep. We use Okidatas on the sorting machines at the USPS facility where I work.
This just seems odd. Why would you punch holes in a magnetic tape, where one of the big advantages magnetic tape has over paper tape is the fact it can be erased and re-written?
It was probably mylar punch tape. Looks sort of similar to mag tape. Better wear resistance, could move faster than paper punch tape, etc. Usually spooled like mag tape. A Google image search would show you what it looked like if you’re curious.
Oh, a miscommunication. Which also explains the so-called “7-bit OS”. Not that 7-bit chips don’t exist, but they’re all DACs as far as I can tell, and not the kind of things you’d run an OS on.
I worked on the system and its way way older than you think. The magnetic tape was a fibrous paper. The holes were read by many small magnetic read heads. There were alignment dots punched out along the side, kinda like sprocket holes on film, and the absence or hole was a 1 (IIRC) and the presence of the tape was a 0. Aligning the read heads were a pain as there were a bunch and you had to get their height just right so they could read the information off of the tape correctly. If too low they’d snag on the holes. Super pain in the ass.
The system as a whole was compromised of something like 60 cards. Almost the size of a notecard, maybe a large Rolodex card? These cards were the RAM, ALU, etc. it was a 7 bit computer so if you want to split hairs on if it was a 7 bit OS go for it.
Ooh wait, the tape was not magnetic. The two heads (one on top of the other) created a field and when it was blocked by solid tape it was one value and not blocked via a hole it was the other.
Sorry, it’s been awhile.