[GTALUG] One of the First Computer TV shows from the 80s.

[James Knott]

On 03/27/2016 09:04 PM, Stewart C. Russell wrote:
> On 2016-03-27 05:19 PM, Dev Guy wrote:
>> I just started to watch the TVO episode and had a good laugh of the
>> tape loading the software
> Hey, don't knock 'em. They were cheap and pretty reliable. For some
> reason (import tariffs? lower disposable income?) floppy drives were
> pretty rare in the UK. They were still faster than a Commodore 64 disk
> drive, though. Odd that a company that had its own chip fab was so
> profligate with resources, when UK computers - built from generic chips
> and a whole load of corner-cutting - could do more with much less.
>
> If you wish to relive the joys of tape data storage, he's a KCS format
> reader/writer that I've used to send and receive data from very old
> computers:
>
> http://dabeaz.blogspot.ca/2010/08/decoding-superboard-ii-cassette-audio.html
>
> If you want a more useful transfer method, Kamal Mostafa's minimodem is
> included in most distros. It's a general purpose software FSK modem. For
> maximal annoyance of everyone around you, try using minimodem and your
> computer speakers to send files to a nearby computer. It really works!
>
>

Here's an article that includes the Kansas City Standard cassette
interface.  It's from the March 1976 issue of Byte Magazine, starting on
page 32, in the "Bit Boffer" article.  There is also mention of it on
pages 31& 32 of the very first issue, Sept. 1975, of Byte, but I
couldn't find an online copy of it.  Both articles were written by Don
Lancaster, who also wrote some books on digital logics.

https://ia800308.us.archive.org/12/items/byte-magazine-1976-03/1976_03_BYTE_00-07_Cassette_Interfaces.pdf