Sam wrote a comment on Time Machine Mk.Dan Julio wrote a comment on Time Machine Mk.CriptasticHacker has updated the log for Wheelchair EZ-Motion.Nick Rehm wrote a reply on The "Cyclone-Rotor" UFO Drone.Jay Riedl has added a new project titled Handheld Model Rocket Launcher with Igniter Test. ![]() Jesse Farrell has updated details to "High" Bandwidth - Current Sense Amplifier.Runningdroid on Siphoning Energy From Power Lines.Miles on Play N64 Games The Right Way With This Classic Controller Adapter.ryanberickson on Retrotechtacular: A Closer Look At The VT Proximity Fuze. ![]() Flux-Sucking Shunt on A Peek Inside A 747 Fuel Gauge.Sverre on What Do You Want In A Programming Assistant?.TacticalNinja on Hyundai Is Doomed: Porting The 1993 Classic To A Hyundai Head Unit.HalfNormal on A Peek Inside A 747 Fuel Gauge.Andrew on Hackaday Links: June 11, 2023.This Week In Security: Minecraft Fractureiser, MOVEit, And Triangulation 1 Comment Together, these got the maximum latency down to about two minutes, which was still ridiculous, but in the neighborhood of what it took to find a particular program on a cassette.Īlas, I had to put this project on the back burner, as I was changing jobs and changing states at the time (geographical states, not physical), and by the time I had some time to spend on projects like this again, floppy drives had come down in price and the writing was on the wall already for cassettes. I had two solutions for that:ġ) cut the loop length to something more acceptable,Ģ) put a larger pulley on the motor to run the tape through at 3x the normal speed. Still, since the standard tape size was about 40 minutes (long enough to fit a typical vinyl album), this meant that the loop took 10 minutes to get through, since there were four track pairs. My idea of a solution was to buy two 8-track players that were on deep discount somewhere, and try to make them work like floppy drives.Ĩ-track tapes had features that made them somewhat suited to this:ġ) they were continuous-loop, so like a floppy, the computer just had to wait until timing signals indicated it was at the right “sector” to read or write a block, which directly corresponded to what it had to do on floppies (or indeed, hard drives),Ģ) they had multiple tracks which the computer could “seek” to, just by activating a solenoid for half a second or so, which reduced the average access time. Which was a poor choice because these required manually rewinding, and if you had more than one program or data file on a cassette, manual fast-forwarding as well. It was a time when a floppy controller and two drives cost as much as the rest of a hobby/home computer, so cassettes were the main mass storage device. Posted in home entertainment hacks Tagged 8-track, RCA, tape changer Post navigation Does anyone still use 8-track tapes any more? If you want dig into the workings of an 8-track player, check out Jenny List’s retro teardown from 2017. If you like these old mechanical logic controls, check out the video below the break. He says that this changer is needed for a future video, so we’re looking forward to see how it will be employed. Then he pulls out the wow and flutter meter to really zero in - and gets it bang on. By trial and error, he builds up the pulley diameter by winding lengths of tape until the music sounds just “good enough” to his ear. But in true hacker style, he instead solves the problem with cellophane packing tape. It’s not entirely clear whether these carousels were primarily intended to play background music inside businesses, or built for niche consumer applications.Īfter discovering there was no setting to adjust the tape’s speed for 50/60 Hz operation, could have ordered or fabricated a larger-diameter pulley for the motor drive shaft. Oddly, the system does not repeat automatically after the fifth tape ends –operator intervention is required. Cartridges could be up to 90 minutes each, making for over seven hours of playing time. The system plays both sides of each tape cartridge through to completion, and then switches automatically to the next one in the stack. ![]() Additionally, the player is designed for the US market and 60 Hz mains, but is in the UK with 50 Hz.Īlthough electronics are used for the basic tape player portion, everything else is operated by mechanical gears, levers, and motors. It somewhat works, but had a bit of mechanical issues here and there which needed some maintenance. For reasons still unclear, has procured an RCA 8-track changer that holds five tape cartridges in a custom carrier.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |