Debugging The UE1 Paper Tape Reader And Amplification Circuit

After recently putting together the paper tape reader for his custom tube-based UE1 computer, [David Lovett] did get squiggles on the outputs, but not quite the right ones. In the most recent video…

Completing The UE1’s Paper Tape Reader And First Squiggles

On today’s installment of UE1 vacuum tube computer construction, we join [David Lovett] once more on the Usagi Electric farm, as he determines just how much work remains before the project ca…

A Teletype By Any Other Name: The Early E-mail And Wordprocessor

Some brand names become the de facto name for the generic product. Xerox, for example. Or Velcro. Teletype was a trademark, but it has come to mean just about any teleprinter communicating with ano…

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 of light, some photoreceptors behind the tape to register the presence of holes and some way to pull the tape…

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 tape reader for his tube-based, MC14500B processor-inspired computer, [David Lovett] over at the Usagi Electric far…

Building A Paper Tape Reader To Read Bytes

Over at the [Usagi Electric] farm, [David Lovett]’s custom 1-bit, vacuum tube-based computer (UEVTC for short) has been coming along well the past years, matching and exceeding the Motorola M…

Homebrew Reader Brings Paper Tape Programs Back To Life

We may be a bit biased, but the storage media of yesteryear has so much more personality than that of today. Yes, it’s a blessing to have terabyte SD cards smaller than your pinky nail and be…

Machine Teaches Morse Code

If you are a ham radio operator of a certain age, you probably remember ads for “The Instructograph,” a mechanical device for learning Morse code. [Our Own Devices] has an ancient speci…

Paper Punching Machine Looks Like Cute Piece Of Computer History Past

Computing used to run on punch cards. Great stacks of cards would run middling programs, with data output onto more punched cards in turn. [Nii] has built a machine in this vein, capable of punchin…

Let’s Listen To A Tape — Paper Tape

These days, data is as likely as not to be “in the cloud.” Otherwise, it’s probably on a USB flash drive or SD card. But in the old days, paper tape was a widespread way to store …

Reverse-Engineering Helps Typesetting Machine Punch Paper Tape Again

[Scott M. Baker] wants a paper tape punch for his retrocomputer collection. That’s fine with us, we don’t judge. In fact,  these electromechanical peripherals from the past have a lot g…

Paper Tape Reader Self-calibrates, Speaks USB

Input devices consisting of optical readers for punched paper tape have been around since the earliest days of computing, so why stop now? [Jürgen]’s Paper Tape Reader project connects to any…

Taking A Walk Down [Computer] Memory Lane

There’s nothing quite like going to a museum and being given a tour by a docent who really knows their way around the exhibits. When that docent has first hand experience in the subject matter, the…