Summary

Folded length of punched paper tape, titled '5/8-15 A.T.E.P.O SA=0200, Binary'.

The punched paper tape is a software program for a PDP8 microcomputer. The program was prepared by DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer Users' Society), an independent user group founded in 1961. Paper tape was a reliable and inexpensive (although slow) method of loading and storing programs, prior to magnetic discs and tapes, and was still in use in the 1970s.

This punched paper tape program is part of a collection of objects and documents associated with the PDP8 microcomputer manufactured by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) and used by C.S.I.R.O. at Monash University.

The Digital Equipment Computer Users Society (DECUS) was set up by early users of the PDP-1 computer, which was manufactured by Digital Electronic Corporation (DEC), in Massachsetts, United States of America. The creation of DECUS was driven by the need to share information and computer programs for the PDP-1. One of the key reasons was that early users had to write their own software; DEC initially sold only hardware. Set up in 1961, DECUS grew to be one of the largest international societies of computer users in the world.

Physical Description

A length of grey paper tape folded like a fan with punched holes along its length. The latter part of the tape changes to a mauve colour. There are printed arrows along one side of the tape. There is a label attached with adhesive to the end of the tape with black typewritten text and a logo on a blue background.

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