tapes as mass storage -(nf)

[guy%ucla-locus at sri-unix.UUCP]

From:  Richard Guy <guy at ucla-locus>

There were (still are?) storage devices/techniques slower than DECtapes.
However, I can't recall hearing of anyone trying to run a multi-user timesharing
system from cards or paper tape.  (swapping??? demand paging??? random access
files???)  The original issue being addressed was the truth of rumours about
people running UNIX, etc, on tape-only systems.

richard

ps  Come to think of it, if one had a fancy enough card sorter/collater combined
    with a reader/punch, one could mimic a DECtape, modulo a few orders of
    magnitude with respect to time.