Tarbell Cassette Interface

Expansion card
A 1976 advertisement for the Tarbell Cassette Interface.

The Tarbell Cassette Interface is an expansion card for use with the Altair 8800 early personal computer, or other systems using the Altair's S-100 bus. It was designed by Don Tarbell[1] and sold by Tarbell Electronics as early as 1976.[2] At the time, it was considered to be fast, reliable, and popular. While supporting the 1975 Kansas City (Byte/Lancaster) standard, it also introduced a much faster Tarbell standard which became a de facto standard for compact cassette data storage.[3][4]

Tarbell also sold other products, including TARBELL CASSETTE BASIC in 1978[5] and a Shugart Associates-compatible dual disk drive subsystem. The latter includes a Tarbell floppy disk interface, said to plug into any S-100 bus computer, introduced in 1979.[6]

References

  1. ^ Don Tarbell, By Tom Dilatush, May 18, 2008, JamulBlog, My name is Paula Rouse. I worked for the "Famous" Don Tarbell at Tarbell Electronics in Carson, CA from 1976 to 1983. I was his first employee when he began selling cassette interface kits and assembled units. He was a terrific boss and his wife Brenda and I have been best friends for all these years. She called me this evening to say that Don passed away this morning, May 19th, 1998, after a long bout with cancer.
  2. ^ "SCCS Interface". Southern California Computer Society. December 1976. p. 51. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  3. ^ "The IMSAI 8800". www.pc-history.org.
  4. ^ Advert: TARBELL SETS STANDARDS For Hobbyists and Systems Developers, Byte Magazine Volume 03 Number 08, Page 51
  5. ^ TARBELL CASSETTE BASIC, Written by Tom Dilatush of REAL TIME MICROSYSTEMS , 2240 Main St. No. 18, Chula Vista, CA 92011 for Don Tarbell of TARBELL ELECTRONICS, 950 Dovlen Place, Suite B, Carson, CA 90746, October 19, 1978
  6. ^ "Dual Disk Drive System Bows". Computerworld. September 24, 1979. p. 51.

External links

  • The Tarbell Cassette Interface Manual
  • "The board that launched the company and made Tarbell a household word in the world of the S-100 bus" s100computers.com
  • Tarbell S-100 boards and docs
  • v
  • t
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Magnetic-tape data storage formats
Linear
Wide (19–25.4 mm)
  • IBM 7340 (1961)
  • LINCtape (1962)
  • DECtape (1963)
  • CDC 626 (1966)
Half inch (12.7 mm)
  • UNISERVO (1951)
  • IBM 7-track (1952)
  • TX-2 Tape System (1958)
  • 9-track (1964)
  • IBM 3480 (1984)
  • DLT (1984)
  • IBM 3590 (1995)
  • T9840 (1998)
  • T9940 (2000)
  • LTO Ultrium (2000)
  • IBM 3592 (2003)
  • T10000 (2006)
Eight millimeter (8 mm)
Quarter inch (6.35 mm)
  • QIC (1972)
  • SLR (1986)
  • Ditto (1992)
"Eighth" (0.15) inch (3.81 mm)
Stringy (1.58–1.9 mm)
Helical
Three quarter inch (19 mm)
  • Sony DIR (19xx)
  • Ampex DST (1992)
Half inch (12.7 mm)
Eight millimeter (8 mm)
Four millimeter (3.81 mm)