PC04/PC05 High-Speed Paper-Tape Reader/Punch
The PC04 and PC05 Paper-Tape Reader/Punches are the DEC-supplied paper tape peripherals for the PDP-8 and PDP-11 respectively. The '04 was also used by early PDP-10 models, and '05 by the PDP-12 and PDP-15.
The mechanical portions are the same in the '04 and '05 types, but they differ in the control electronics in them. Both types include an electro-mechanical punch, and a photo-electric reader, which are completely separate, but housed in the same frame, and share a power supply.
There are also reader-only and punch-only models: the reader-punch model of the PC04 is the PC04B, the reader-only model is the PR04R, and the punch-only model is the PC04P; the reader-punch model of the PC05 is the PC05C, the reader-only model is the PR05R, and the punch-only model is the PC05P.
All the models listed above come in 50Hz and 60Hz versions (which are identical except for the punch pulley; so there are no separate 50Hz versions of the reader-only models).
There is also a backplane to hold the control electronics, which are a number of FLIP CHIPs. The backplane in the PC04 has 8 slots; that in the PC05 has 12 slots. (In addition, there is also a controller in the computer.)
Varsions
There are a myriad of different versions, in addition to the variants above, particularly in the '04.
To start with, there are two generations of each type: in the earlier, input data is strobed during reading by a signal from the stepper motor; the later strobes the data by sensing the feed holes.
There are also different versions of the PC04 for different PDP-8 models (they differ as to which FLIP CHIPs are used, per the table below):
- PC04-B, PC04-C - PDP-8, PDP-8/S (also the KA10)
- PC04-BB - PDP-8/I
- PC04-BL - PDP-8/E, PDP-8/F, PDP-8/L, PDP-8/M
along with equivalent versions of the punch-only and reader-only models (except that documentation does not show a punch-only model for the -8/I).
There is also a special version of the reader/punch model for the KI10, the PC04-CL. (The 50Hz versions of all of these differ in the last letter, which is incremented; e.g. the KI10 50Hz version is the -CM.)
The control switch array on the front panel differs between the reader-punch, reader-only, and punch-only versions; the PDP-10 versions have their own switch array formats.
