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@Nouvellalia@lemmy.world

Post #4168810

2026-07-28 16:46 UTC

I’ve seen punch cards where the optical media meant to be illuminated and projected for people to see, was accompanied by punched information for a computer to read. They were both on the same punch card. I want to say the USGS, the patent office, the army, and maybe Bell systems used these at some points? I think this may be what you remember? I’ve never seen one where the holes carried a few extra bits of color information though. I do not think that existed on an industrial scale. Was it in a niche children’s toy?

Replies (1)

  • @BartyDeCanter@piefed.social 2026-07-29 00:45

    I finally figured out what it was, though embarrassingly I found out it wasn’t a punchcard, but a colored card with a barcode on the back. https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/teardown-vtech-whiz-kid-luggable-computer/

    Open ##4178140