A homebrew optical reader for proper paper tapes (7 bits, parity, sprocket holes) relating to the UK’s “ICL-CES: Computer Education in Schools” programme:
I actually have an old paper tape from my High School days. I know it it is a RSTS/E Basic Plus program. I wrote a little C program where I could enter the binary from the holes and print out the contents in ASCII. I did enough by hand to see it starts at line 1000 and has a print statement. (I’m not going to hand decode the whole thing!)
I’m looking for someone with a tape reader that would be willing to read it and send me a transcript of what’s on the tape. I’m not emotionally invested enough to want to build an actual reader. I am willing to pay for postage both ways, however.
I like to keep the correspondence within the US, for time and cost. If anyone is interested in ding this, let me know!
Well done for keeping hold of that tape! For a while I too had a tape from my schooldays but somehow I don’t have it anymore.
If it’s not terribly long, I’d recommend taking a movie of it - preferably at 4x frame rate- just by pulling it past the field of view of a phone or camera. That can act as a backup. I bet there are people who’d help in transcribing it if need be.
