Data conversion
Author
Discussion

plasticpig

Original Poster:

12,932 posts

255 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
Bit of a long shot this. Does anyone know of a company who will read punch cards and convert them into a CSV file? I think the cards are IBM 80x12 format.

zumbruk

7,848 posts

290 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
Blimey, I didn't know anyone had data still lingering on punched cards...

The only thing I can think of would be to contact the Computer Museum at Bletchley Park and see if they could help. I know they had a fair amount of punched card equipment (I saw most of it last Saturday!) but I have no idea if any of it is functional.

www.retrobeep.org/

ATG

23,827 posts

302 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
Wow. I'd be surprised if any company does it commercially, but good luck in the search. You might be able to find some enthusiast who has a punch card reader as part of a hobby, or maybe the original card reader manufacturer has kept a few?

Being a train spotter at heart, I'm intrigued. When were the punched cards produced? What's the data and how many of them do you have to read?

dilbert

7,741 posts

261 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
How about?

Card readers...


Edited by dilbert on Monday 21st August 12:35

GreenV8S

31,027 posts

314 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
Worst case you could scan them and then process the image.

dilbert

7,741 posts

261 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
GreenV8S said:
Worst case you could scan them and then process the image.


It's funny, I hadn't thought of that, but it's an excellent idea!

plasticpig

Original Poster:

12,932 posts

255 months

Monday 21st August 2006
quotequote all
ATG said:
Being a train spotter at heart, I'm intrigued. When were the punched cards produced? What's the data and how many of them do you have to read?


The only thing I know is its some sort of geographical survey information from the late 60's. Dont know exactly how many cards but it takes up 12 large cardboard boxes apparently.
Scanning could possibly be the the solution.