3 ms·

I did one of these as a proof of concept for storing gpg keys long term, securely and offline. My version didn't use a motor and required a human to pull the t

I did one of these as a proof of concept for storing gpg keys long term, securely and offline. My version didn't use a motor and required a human to pull the tape through, had a set of guide holes down the middle to indicate when a bit was to be read and used LEDs as both the light sources and the photo receptors. All in all a rather fun project which worked much better than it had any right to. Never did find a material which had the longevity of aluminium foil with the durability of 35mm film stock.

_Microft 2y ago
How did you write data onto the tape?
- llm_trw 2y ago
  For the paper version, which is the only one I tested, I used a co2 laser to burn the holes, a jig to center tape and a pin to index the holes.
ComputerGuru 2y ago
For something as short as a gpg key, you can easily use stamped brass “tape” 0.1-3mm in thickness. You can roll it like tape if it’s thin enough or just store it as a bar if your pattern is dense enough. (Also note that OP’s version doesn’t require a motor either and can be actuated by hand, per TFA.)
theophrastus 2y ago
Here's from 2014 with some capacity calculations [0]. "ssh private key (900 bytes): 15 feet of tape." [0] https://heepy.net/index.php/Data_storage_capacity_of_teletype_paper_tape https://heepy.net/index.php/Data_storage_capacity_of_teletyp...
- Nzen 2y ago
  If we prefer paper but relax the teletype constraint, Oleh Yuschuk's PaperBack [0] allows encoding 500 KB on a sheet of printer paper. [0] https://ollydbg.de/Paperbak https://ollydbg.de/Paperbak (posted various times to HN)
shrubble 2y ago
CNC machines which use paper tape, use a form of Mylar.
082349872349872 2y ago
https://www.dymo.com/labels-tapes/embossing-tapes/dymo-non-adhesive-aluminum-embossing-tape/SAP_31000.html https://www.dymo.com/labels-tapes/embossing-tapes/dymo-non-a... ? https://theforestrystore.com/collections/aluminum-tags/products/butter-soft-aluminum-tree-tags https://theforestrystore.com/collections/aluminum-tags/produ... ?
kjs3 2y ago
A friend had a commercial paper tape reader (don't recall who made it) from the S-100/8080/CP-M homebrew era built exactly like that. It was the 'inexpensive' version (they had motorized versions), and was finicky but worked OK for small amounts of code. CP/M actually has a built-in papertape reader device in bios called RDR: (tho it was often repurposed for other kinds of devices).

_Microft 2y ago

How did you write data onto the tape?

llm_trw 2y ago
For the paper version, which is the only one I tested, I used a co2 laser to burn the holes, a jig to center tape and a pin to index the holes.

ComputerGuru 2y ago

For something as short as a gpg key, you can easily use stamped brass “tape” 0.1-3mm in thickness. You can roll it like tape if it’s thin enough or just store it as a bar if your pattern is dense enough. (Also note that OP’s version doesn’t require a motor either and can be actuated by hand, per TFA.)

theophrastus 2y ago

Here's from 2014 with some capacity calculations [0]. "ssh private key (900 bytes): 15 feet of tape." [0] https://heepy.net/index.php/Data_storage_capacity_of_teletype_paper_tape https://heepy.net/index.php/Data_storage_capacity_of_teletyp...

Nzen 2y ago
If we prefer paper but relax the teletype constraint, Oleh Yuschuk's PaperBack [0] allows encoding 500 KB on a sheet of printer paper. [0] https://ollydbg.de/Paperbak https://ollydbg.de/Paperbak (posted various times to HN)

shrubble 2y ago

CNC machines which use paper tape, use a form of Mylar.

082349872349872 2y ago

https://www.dymo.com/labels-tapes/embossing-tapes/dymo-non-adhesive-aluminum-embossing-tape/SAP_31000.html https://www.dymo.com/labels-tapes/embossing-tapes/dymo-non-a... ? https://theforestrystore.com/collections/aluminum-tags/products/butter-soft-aluminum-tree-tags https://theforestrystore.com/collections/aluminum-tags/produ... ?

kjs3 2y ago

A friend had a commercial paper tape reader (don't recall who made it) from the S-100/8080/CP-M homebrew era built exactly like that. It was the 'inexpensive' version (they had motorized versions), and was finicky but worked OK for small amounts of code. CP/M actually has a built-in papertape reader device in bios called RDR: (tho it was often repurposed for other kinds of devices).