12 Aug
2020
12 Aug
'20
5:55 a.m.
On Wed, 29 Jul 2020, Johnny Billquist wrote:
However, seek times on DECtape aren't really
comparable to magtape
either. Because DECtape deals with absolute block numbers. So you can
always, no matter where you are, find out where you are, and how far you
will need to move to get to the correct block.
With magtapes, this is pretty much impossible. You'll have to rewind,
and then start seeking.
Not if you used 512-byte blocks, and mounted it read-only; that way, you
could use it as a file system (and I did, just for fun). Oh, you also
needed a clever tape driver, of course. And the IRG was a bit of a
problem, chewing up a lot of tape space.
I posted this here a while back, and some idiot (his name is not
important) practically called me a liar, until he was handed his arse
on a plate by someone else with better knowledge than him.
-- Dave