Now /this/ is a tape drive.
- Thread starter michaelsanford
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ora
Registered
Hmmn, impressive, but i think I've got you beat.
_This_ is a tape drive!
A Storage Tek tape Silo, where the tapes are moved around by robotic arms within the machine.
Control Centre, top rack of monitors are feeds from cameras attached to the robotic arms which switch the tapes around.
For fun though, check here for webcam feed from the robot heads, but doesn't work in Safari so you'll have to try firefox.
_This_ is a tape drive!
A Storage Tek tape Silo, where the tapes are moved around by robotic arms within the machine.
Control Centre, top rack of monitors are feeds from cameras attached to the robotic arms which switch the tapes around.
For fun though, check here for webcam feed from the robot heads, but doesn't work in Safari so you'll have to try firefox.
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
Here I foolishly took it to be a data-archiving tape drive. ::ha::
It's actually a drive for converting analog audio cassettes to & from digital form.
That's the first time I've seen anything like that.
It's actually a drive for converting analog audio cassettes to & from digital form.
That's the first time I've seen anything like that.
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
Not sure -- but in any event, this drive doesn't appear to do that, really. It seems to be strictly for reading & writing ANALOG AUDIO to cassette tape. It doesn't put ones & zeros on the the media - it writes in the old analog format that an audio cassette player can read & write.
michaelsanford
Translator, Web Developer
Yeah that's the rediculousness of it, it /really/ is an analogue audio tape player and nothing more.
Imagine how easily digital data would get corrupted on a tape like that...(listened to any 1 year lold tapes recently?)
ora, that's wicked! (and I use firefox, haven't touched Safari in over a year).
Imagine how easily digital data would get corrupted on a tape like that...(listened to any 1 year lold tapes recently?
)ora, that's wicked! (and I use firefox, haven't touched Safari in over a year).
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
Ora - I can't get the webcam link to work (I am, for the moment, stuck on a Windows PC)
ora
Registered
Oops, i didn't realise it was for actual analogue tapes either, silly me. Just saw tape drive and thought of the one in the building opposite (which i showed). I think they used this machine for some of the Internet2 data challenges, though that might have been the IBM storage Tank (another immense storage system, but HD not tape.) - this place is _full_ of insane tech.
On the one micheal posted, very interesting, especially for my stepfather, who has a big collection of pirate radio stuff from the 70s and 80s he doesn't want to lose. Perhaps a bit pricy though, even with the good £ to $ rates.
Brian, not sure how to help you with the webcam. Its not very picturesque, just black and white grainy images of the backs of tapes, and the odd glimpse of a robotic clamp grabbing them. Attached is a grab, things were moving but obviously that doesn't really come across. Incidentally, this is what is displayed in the top rack of monitors at the control station shown in my last post.
On the one micheal posted, very interesting, especially for my stepfather, who has a big collection of pirate radio stuff from the 70s and 80s he doesn't want to lose. Perhaps a bit pricy though, even with the good £ to $ rates.
Brian, not sure how to help you with the webcam. Its not very picturesque, just black and white grainy images of the backs of tapes, and the odd glimpse of a robotic clamp grabbing them. Attached is a grab, things were moving but obviously that doesn't really come across. Incidentally, this is what is displayed in the top rack of monitors at the control station shown in my last post.
