Paper tape is, of course, something like a narrow player piano roll, and
could be read the same way. Have a "play head" with 9 holes (8 data, one
"sprocket"). Apply independent vacuum to each hole in the play head and
detect loss of vacuum when the tape has a hole. Use of vacuum is better
than pressure, since it sucks the tape to the head instead of pushing it
away. You could still use the tone decoding idea by using whistles that
work backwards (whistles that suck). Or, you could have pressure
transducers that detect the vacuum.

By the way, I think it was on this list, but perhaps another, someone
suggested the book that is titled something like "Computer - The history
of the information machine." I'm about half way through reading it at the
moment. IBM is just starting to outsell UNIVAC. They are about to start
using core memory. Memory to this time used mercury delay lines or CRT
storage tubes, or a rotating magnetic drum. This is about 1955 or so.
These computers had thousands of vacuum tubes. Truly amazng stuff!

Harold


> Captain Crunch, is that you?
>
> DougM
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf
> Of
> Jake Anderson
> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 5:30 PM
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: Re: [PIC] Morse Code Firmware -- not big enough. Paper tape
>
> Doug Metzler wrote:
>> Would a small fish-tank air pump plumbed to an 8-hole distributor and
>> then
>> have 8 pressure sensors on the other side to pick up the puff qualify as
>> Rube-Goldberg?  Imagine the throughput!
>>
> My thought was to use the air to blow through whistles (think pan
> pipes), use a microphone to pick up the sound, DSP it to get the
> individual frequencies.
> Heh if you got it right you could use DTMF frequencies on your whistles
> and a DTMF decoder, you could have your decoder built in about 20
> minutes with a drill press and some aquarium hosing (and a really quiet
> compressor).
>
> I once as a thought experiment for uni designed a rover for Io (the 1st
> moon of Jupiter) Its hit by so much radiation a person would be dead in
> about 10 seconds. There was some "old school" tech in there. Tube based
> camera. Fluidic computer using punched tape for the program storage.
> Valve radio. All the good stuff. (A HDTV tube based camera now that
> would be cool). The onboard electronics would mainly be to keep the
> antenna pointed at one of the lagrange points where you would have a
> ball of lead/water ice with a satellite in it and to do whatever it said
> to do. (The radiation travels down a "pipe" from Jupiter's poles along
> with lightning, interplanetary lightning now that would make for a light
> show). You just need to pitch it as a mini-series to some TV company to
> get your funding, launch from a Russian ICBM and your set.
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