[GreenKeys] Troubleshooting papertape reader

Thu Apr 23 12:38:47 EDT 2015

On the punched tape there are CR then LF characters in each S1 (data line).  I confirmed this.  The tape is OK.

There is a relay in the back of the TTY that when you press down release quickly it moves the reader one click at a time, and prints the input char to the page (or space or CR or LF, etc).  From this I can see that the bad unit does not "respond" to to the LF character when it comes up on the tape, at least some of the time.  There are also occasional bad characters.  If you could imagine a "clean" Motorola S record file with each line starting with S11300000000...   On the bad machine you'd notice occasionally the printout appears to have lines that typed over themselves.

On my good teletype it prints from the tape correctly both one char at a time and in "start" mode on the reader.  I read the tape and it prints the correct thing to the printer.

If I was to load in the tape using the good teletype into the computer (BASIC) and then switch to the TTY with the reader problem the TTY seems to work correctly, no lost characters or misprints.   I am no expert.  I checked the form-out mechanism on the teletype with the issue and I did not see anything wrong with it.  I always get a LF when I call it from the typewriter to the printer or if I am using teletype through a computer.

This is why I think the problem is with the reader.  I am baffled because the problem does not happen consistently.   

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Douglas <deramp5113 at yahoo.com>
To: B Degnan <billdeg at aol.com>; greenkeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thu, Apr 23, 2015 12:13 pm
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Troubleshooting papertape reader

   Bill,  

You're going to want to start by isolating this problem to the reader or the printer mechanism. I'd read the tape into a file on your PC and see whether or not the LFs are being lost/garbled by the reader. If not, then you're really just chasing a printer mechanism issue with this particular symptom.  

Use a terminal emulator like TeraTerm and capture the received data into a binary file. Do you still have a PC with a native serial port instead of a USB-serial adapter? Many serial adapters have problems at 110 baud.  

Mike  

        On Thursday, April 23, 2015 10:44 AM, B Degnan via GreenKeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

       Hi all,
 I have a question about reading a papertape.

 Let's say I have two machines,  both in local mode.

 I want to read in a papertape that has the following data on it:
 S10400F3FF09
 S11300000D7600F37E18F97E033C00004838002C7E
 S113001000000000000000000000000000000000DC
 S113002000000000000000000000000000000000CC
 S113003000000000000000000000000000000000BC
 S113004000000000000000000000000000000000AC
 S1130050000000000000000000000000000000009C
 S1130060000000000000000000000000000000008C
 S9

 Machine #1 - run the tape in the reader I get
 S10400F3FF09
 S11300000D7600F37E18F97E033C00004838002C7E
 S113001000000000000000000000000000000000DC
 S113002000000000000000000000000000000000CC
 S113003000000000000000000000000000000000BC
 S113004000000000000000000000000000000000AC
 S1130050000000000000000000000000000000009C
 S1130060000000000000000000000000000000008C

 Machine #2 - run the same tape in the reader and a number of the lines do not line feed, typing over the line.  
 This happens in the very beginning and every so often but enough to make it impossible to load a long program from the reader.

 I have checked the reader and the form out mechanism.  Nothing obvious appears wrong to me, the unit is clean and oiled but not too much.

 I welcome your suggestions.  What could be wrong?

 Best
 Bill Degnan
 vintagecomputer.net

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