2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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flap
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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vt. 1. [obs.] To unload a DECtape (so it goes flap, flap, flap...). Old-time
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hackers at MIT tell of the days when the disk was device 0 and DEC
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microtapes were 1, 2,... and attempting to flap device 0 would instead start
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a motor banging inside a cabinet near the disk. 2. By extension, to unload
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any magnetic tape. Modern cartridge tapes no longer actually flap, but the
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usage has remained. (The term could well be re-applied to DEC's TK50
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cartridge tape drive, a spectacularly misengineered contraption which makes
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a loud flapping sound, almost like an old reel-type lawnmower, in one of its
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many tape-eating failure modes.
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