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  • Re: The Return Of Cassette Tape

    From Kurt Weiske@3:633/10 to rbowman on Thursday, August 27, 2026 22:18:32
    To: rbowman
    rbowman wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

    After seeing an ad for the Sinclair ZX-81 which was under 100 USD in
    the kit form, I had to see what you got for that money. 32 character
    wide display via a RF modulator and your TV, a membrane keyboard, and program storage on a Walkman cassette player. It wasn't a high point in
    my computing experience. It did make an adequate doorstop.

    I had the US re-branded system, the Timex/Sinclair TS1000. same
    keyboard, same cassette port. Had to use my old portable cassette
    recorder to load programs.

    One "feature" was the RAM expansion pack (I think it was 16 megabytes)
    that plugged into the expansion port using friction to hold it in. Jar
    the keyboard just so and it'd crash the computer.

    Commodore PET 4000 series had moved away from tape by then. iirc the VIC-20 went back to the purpose build external cassette drive from the
    PET 2000 series.

    I was in high school working on Commodore PETs - the move to floppy
    drives was a quantum leap!

    kurt weiske | kweiske at realitycheckbbs dot org
    | http://realitycheckbbs.org
    | 1:218/700@fidonet



    The good old days...
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  • From Kurt Weiske@3:633/10 to rbowman on Saturday, August 29, 2026 08:39:16
    To: rbowman
    rbowman wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

    I may still have it someplace but I had a QIC drive. I forget if it was
    a 40 or 80. They topped out a 120 MB though. Later versions held more.

    I read QIC and I can hear the sound they made. Were Travan drives the
    same technology? I had a 400mb drive at home before I discovered
    cast-off DDS DAT drives from work. Work got DDS-2 drives, I took a DDS
    drive home with me...



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  • From Steve VanDevender@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, September 08, 2026 00:59:50
    "Kurt Weiske" <kurt.weiske@realitycheckbbs.org.remove-101a-this> writes:

    I had the US re-branded system, the Timex/Sinclair TS1000. same
    keyboard, same cassette port. Had to use my old portable cassette
    recorder to load programs.

    One "feature" was the RAM expansion pack (I think it was 16 megabytes)
    that plugged into the expansion port using friction to hold it in. Jar
    the keyboard just so and it'd crash the computer.

    16 megabytes for a Z-80-based system? Ha! 16 kilobytes, at best.

    --
    For I know what you don't know / And I see things you'll never see /
    And I've a different way of living, you know / And I've such a different
    frame of mind, and so ... / I'm on my way to the funnyfarm
    -- Happy Rhodes, "To the Funnyfarm"

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  • From Kurt Weiske@3:633/10 to Steve VanDevender on Tuesday, September 08, 2026 07:05:57
    To: Steve VanDevender
    Steve VanDevender wrote to alt.sysadmin.recovery <=-

    16 megabytes for a Z-80-based system? Ha! 16 kilobytes, at best.

    You are correct, sir!



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