[nonhuman]

If that title doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what will. Also, I really can't imagine that anywhere other than the lounge would be appropriate for this, despite it's hardware nature.

So... Does anyone have any idea where one might be able to find an old school compact cassette (like the ones you used to buy your Metallica albums on) data drive? Yes, they exist. Compact cassettes were an actual data storage medium in the 70s and 80s (and even early 90s).

(Crossposted with my blog.)

[starman]

Didn't it just use analog signals for the data? I had two of them - one for the TRS-80 and one for the Atari 800.

[nonhuman]

Hey, where'd my reply go? Damnit.

To recap:
I've done some reading, and I believe you're right. It should, therefore, be possible to just hook any old tape deck up to the audio in/out jacks on a computer and be able to read write data to a compact cassette with the right software. So now the question is, does anyone know of any such software?

[nonhuman]

Ooh, now that I think about it, any sort of software modem ought to be modifiable for these purposes.

[Eug]

My school had these for their Commodore PETs. They were just audio cassette recorders, with special connectors for the computer.

.



Oh and they sucked azz. With an old tape, sometimes you had to read the "data" three times before you'd get non-garbled data.

What are you gonna do with this anyway?

[nonhuman]

Oh, I've got a fairly awesome hardware hack in mind.

A little more research has made me realize that a software modem (MODulator-DEModulator) is exactly what I need: just a way of converting digital data to analogue waveforms and back. I'm now digging through the documentation for various gettys. Fun!

[Railroader]

I remember playing summer olympics on a friend's dad's computer back in the early 80's and the TRS80 used tape decks. We used to wait forever to play that game and we loved it.

[Veltliner]

Originally Posted by nonhuman 

If that title doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what will. Also, I really can't imagine that anywhere other than the lounge would be appropriate for this, despite it's hardware nature.

So... Does anyone have any idea where one might be able to find an old school compact cassette (like the ones you used to buy your Metallica albums on) data drive? Yes, they exist. Compact cassettes were an actual data storage medium in the 70s and 80s (and even early 90s).

(Crossposted with my blog.)

You'll find the in the trash.

In antique trash.

Originally Posted by starman 

Didn't it just use analog signals for the data? I had two of them - one for the TRS-80 and one for the Atari 800.

Yes. Some computers let you use regular cassette recorders (well, you needed a good quality one with input level control). Basically some computers had the modem built-in (Texas Instruments, I think Tandy), so all you needed was a cable. Some did not (Commodore), so you had to buy a commodore brand or another one with the modem built-into the cassette desk.

The problem was that cassettes were prone to stretching and warping, causing data errors. A good quality cassette deck put less stress on the cassettes though, so they would last longer. I had a TI99-4/A with a Panasonic cassette deck. My cassettes lasted for years before they gave up. The TI interface was nice because it used the remote jack on the cassette deck to start and stop the cassette automatically.

[- - e r i k - -]

I love the fact that back in those days, radios were used as peer 2 peer pirate networks.

[Gankdawg]

I too, had a computer in the past that used cassette tapes to store data. A TI perhaps? I don't remember, it's been so long ago. Don't know where the OP could find such equipment though. eBay?

[imitchellg5]

I have one actually. You can't have it.

[nonhuman]

Jerk.