[GreenKeys] Question: Suppose There Were No Computers Or Glass Monitors...

[Robert Nickels]

On 3/6/2022 9:18 PM, Joe Duszyński wrote:
> Stringy floppy the "Micro 8 track" high speed endless loop tape.
> On my Radio Shack Model 1 it is just about as fast as the Floppy disk 
> drive if it is cued to the first program or only program on a short tape.

That would have been massively faster than the digital cassette system I 
got for my Digital Group computer as a cheaper alternative to floppies 
(and soon passed along).   The decks were made by the Triple-I division 
of the Economy Co. and were called "Phi-Deck".    They had four motors 
and a pivoting head mechanism on a cast frame and sold for around 
$100.   A well-designed device but overall a poor solution, as evidenced 
by the fact that when I attended the company's bankruptcy auction there 
were several pallets full of them in original boxes, still 
shrink-wrapped. Floppies won.

Some info on them here: 
http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/the_digital_group/phideck.html

73, Bob W9RAN