if so how much memory would be on a 90 minute cassette. in kilobytes please. give me an example of such a computer.
2006-12-07 08:01:33 · 6 answers · asked by the one and only robertc1985 4 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Other - Electronics
Don't now the kilobytes, but we used to have a sinclair 1000, audio tape drive.
Check out wikipedia for the details. see below.
2006-12-07 08:05:51 · answer #1 · answered by Mr 51 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes, the Apple II computers were able to save that way, as well as the very first IBM PC (the one with the Charlie Chaplin look-alike ads).
Because the storage on cassettes were audio, not digital, they had to be decoded from sound into digits (sort of like telephone tones). This takes up much more space on the tape than if the tape was specially designed for digital recording. According to "The Apple II Circuit Description" by Winston D. Gayler, the average transmission rate of the Apple II cassette interface is 1333 bits per second.
So, for 90 minutes we get: 90 min x 60 sec/min x 1333 bits/sec
or 7199200 bits or 899775 bytes.
2006-12-07 23:39:28 · answer #2 · answered by sd_ducksoup 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Sinclair ZX spectrum used standard audio tapes to save file, as did the Acorn BBC Model B, the Commodore 64 , the Dragon 32 and some heap of cr*p that Amstrad made that I can't remember the name of.
If memory serves me right, the ZX Spectrum (without custom Turbo load software, that some games used) read data from tape at a rate of 1200 bits / second using its built in load/save routines.
Therefore 1 second of tape contained 1200/8 = 150 bytes of Data.
A C90 tape contains 90minutes * 60 seconds = 5400 seconds.
5400 seconds * 150 bytes = 810000 bytes
To convert bytes to K divide by 1024 = 790K on a C90 tape.
This could not all be one file though.
Firstly because you would have to turn the tape over half way through and secondly because the ZX Spectrum only came with either 16K or 48K of RAM.
2006-12-07 08:18:27 · answer #3 · answered by Mike 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Oh totally...There were several models out there I had a commodore 64 (the cpu had 64 kilobytes of RAM) I don't recall how much the tapes held but it was not very much at all ( Maybe 2K tops!!)
But then the CPUs themselves could do very little...Animation/color/etc were nearly nonexistent everything was a shade of green...LOL
Just imagine in 25 years when somebody asks you about the "crappy" and nearly obsolete technology that is the PlayStation 3 or Wii.............
2006-12-07 08:08:42 · answer #4 · answered by SALMON 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There were at least two I know of for sure TS 1000, Commodore 64 and 128 I believe the TRS 80 did for a while too !!!
I don't remember how much you could store but most of the programs were only 1 or 2 k anyway...
2006-12-07 08:10:44 · answer #5 · answered by Daniel H 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Commodore Vic-20 was one model that did this. I didn't have the tape drive (it cost too much), but I knew some people who did. Good links at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20
2006-12-07 08:12:09 · answer #6 · answered by Rose D 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋