Data General Corporation
Paper Tape Reader

    This is the paper tape reader that Data General offered as an optional peripheral on its Nova minicomputer line through the 1970s.

    It's an optical reader with a single high intensity incandescent light source and nine photoreceptors, one for each of the eight data channels and one for the sprocket holes (the sprocket channel serves as a strobe). It uses a friction capstan/pinch roller assembly to move the tape and an electromechanical brake to stop it.

    Basic reading speed of this device was on the order of a few hundred characters, or frames, per second. Control of the device was accomplished by populating pre-wired spaces on the Nova Basic I/O Board.

    This device is currently installed in the Nova 840 system, although both the 1200 and 1210 have the required logic to handle the peripheral.

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