On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:51:22 GMT, Karl Johanson <karljohanson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> "Andy Leighton" <andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
>> On Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:55:07 -0600,
>> Richard Todd <rmtodd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> "Karl Johanson" <karljohanson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>>>
>>>> How many bits did the early computer cassette tapes hold?
>>>
>>> Depends on the machine, and the cassette. TRS-80 Model I cassettes
>>> were 500 bits/sec, IIRC. I don't think any of the other computers of
>>> that
>>> era got much over 2kbits/sec on a cassette, so that should give you a
>>> rough
>>> estimate.
>>
>> The ZX Spectrum used 1500 baud although later quick loaders tripled
>> that at least. At 4500 baud a good 120 minute cassette tape would
>> hold
>> approx. 3.9 Mb.
>
> Thanks to both. My Coleco Adam used 60 minute cassetes and could hold
> 256 k, I was wondering if that was high or low compared to others at the
> time.
The Adam was interesting. It used a special tape drive and special
tapes which it ran with a much faster throughput that a normal cassette
deck. Googling says that it ran the tape at 20 ips (inches per
second) for reading and writing and 80 ips for rewinding.
Certainly on my Speccy I could get loads of games on a C60 tape.
--
Andy Leighton => andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_
|
