n. Occasionally used to mean a
DECtape, as opposed to a
macrotape. A DECtape is a small
reel, about 4 inches in diameter, of magnetic tape about an inch
wide. Unlike drivers for today's
macrotapes, microtape
drivers allow random access to the data, and therefore could be
used to support file systems and even for swapping (this was
generally done purely for
hack value, as they were far too
slow for practical use). In their heyday they were used in pretty
much the same ways one would now use a floppy disk: as a small,
portable way to save and transport files and programs. Apparently
the term 'microtape' was actually the official term used within
DEC for these tapes until someone coined the word 'DECtape',
which, of course, sounded sexier to the
marketroids.
