
Outputs and inputs
available. In large mainframe installations, desktop PC machines are often
used as intelligent terminals.
Punch-hole codes
Before the development of reliable magnetic recording methods for com-
puter data, computer input often made use of punched paper tape or cards.
The tape was
1
in wide and was usually held in reels of one thousand feet
length. The data was coded on the tape in ASCII, using the position of a hole
across the tape to represent each 1 bit in a byte. A set of sprocket holes was
pre-punched into the tape, so that for a seven-bit ASCII code there were
three bit positions on one side of the sprocket holes and