Re: [ARSCLIST] Is this audio? or word processing? or ? ? ?

[George Brock-Nannestad <pattac@xxxxxxxx>]

From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad

Richard Hess asked and Robert Hodge answered

> A person contacted me today with an approximately 5x8 inch magnetic 
> sheet with the IBM logo on it and two holes punched in that edge. It 
> appears to be magnetic material. We have no idea if it's audio (I 
> haven't seen it before) and I'm suspicious that it MIGHT be a word 
> processing format. It dates from the late 1960s and was apparently 
> part of some U.S. Navy documentation.
> 
> A photo of it is posted at: http://www.donmarquis.org/ibm.pdf
> 
> There are ten of these sheets in the collection.
> 

----- with the flimsyness apparent from the impression made by the paper clip 
I would agree with Robert that it is an audio format: it started as a sheet, 
was then spliced into a tube, and someone has slit it again for storage. I do 
not know which is the lesser evil: two sharp folds or two edges you have to 
align and fix with splicing tape. I think it would come down to binder 
resistance to peeling, so the slitting way is probably the safest after all.

If it had been stiffer, I would have opted for word processing. I was on a 
course in 1973 where we were taught an IBM system where a magnetic card the 
dimensions of a standard punched card was the storage. One line on the card 
corresponded to one normal line of typing, but there was a command - TRACK 
LINK that allowed you to use more lines for one line of text. I do not have 
the system name present.

Likewise the NCR CRAM card, which was a computer storage system from the late 
1960s, was a stiffer magnetic card, which was about 3"x12".

Kind regards,


George