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engin à bandes

English translation: magnetic tape contraptions/devices/machines

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20:03 Aug 27, 2010

French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Computers (general)

French term or phrase: engin à bandes

I'm looking for a term for a rather out-dated piece of equipment. It's from a literary text speaking of 1970's era computers: I'm thinking it must have something to do with mainframes that used tapes to store data.

"Les archivistes de Göteborg connaissent la science numérique depuis les premières machines de Turing, et avaient accueilli dès les premières fabuleuses années 1970 des murs entiers dans leurs sous-sols d'engins à bandes, et des circuits imprimés de la taille d'un panneau de retable."

(bonus points for "panneau de retable" :)

gflan KudoZ activity Questions: 12 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 23
Local time: 00:57

English translation:magnetic tape contraptions/devices/machines

Explanation:
It seems that "engins" could be taken a little more in the casual sense, in which case "contraptions" or "devices" could be more appropriate.

Or, of course, there is always the straightforward version: "magnetic tape machine"

And for the bonus point, I'm going to throw out "and circuit boards the size of wall paintings"

Selected response from:

David Salas
United States
Local time: 00:57

Grading comment

Thanks, I think I'm going to go with some version of this. You correctly noted the rather sarcastic tone of the text, which requires a less "technical" translation in this case.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

punched tape machine/reader

Travelin Ann

4 +1

magnetic tape contraptions/devices/machines

David Salas

tape unit

Neil Coffey

magnetic tape drive

Oliver Walter

3 -1

Altarpiece

mhanbury

1 -1

ticker tape machine

Richard Hedger

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

19 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

ticker tape machine

Explanation:
just a guess!

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Note added at 20 mins (2010-08-27 20:24:10 GMT)
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this may help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticker_tape

Richard Hedger
Switzerland
Local time: 07:57
Native speaker of:

English

24 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

panneau de retable Altarpiece

Explanation:
The painting behind the altar in a church

ie the circuits on this thing are huge

Reference: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retable

mhanbury
Local time: 07:57
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Sorry, I think he's referring to my "bonus point" question. I shouldn't have put it up there, but thanks for the response mhanbury! ;)

56 mins confidence:

magnetic tape drive

Explanation:
I think these "engins" are probably magnetic tape drives. I don't think any other type of tape drive (paper) would be present as "murs entiers", but computers in those days did sometimes have several magnetic tape drives.

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Note added at 59 mins (2010-08-27 21:02:38 GMT)
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Maybe the "murs entiers" were just their collection, not the equipment of a single computer. It could still be magnetic tape drives, or perhaps drives for magnetic tape and paper-tape readers/punches, in which case I would just call them "tape drives".

Oliver Walter
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:57
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 7

35 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

punched tape machine/reader

Explanation:
Both punched tape and punched card computers were still around when I first worked in an office environment.

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Note added at 36 mins (2010-08-27 20:40:11 GMT)
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My uncle worked at AT&T in New York City from the early 1940s. He talked of working on computers that filled entire buildings. Those buildings filled an entire NYC block and were several stories tall. They likely had less computing power than my laptop.

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Note added at 51 mins (2010-08-27 20:54:49 GMT)
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When I first began in international business, we communicated by Telex, which used punched tape to send messages. Long before fax machines came into use and when international phone calls were considered far too expensive. Looked like this:
http://www.vulcanhammer.info/off/telex.php

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Note added at 2 hrs (2010-08-27 22:52:31 GMT)
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This notation is from slightly earlier, giving the size of UNIVAC computers:
"The central complex of the UNIVAC was about the size of a one-car garage: 14 feet by 8 feet by 8.5 feet high. It was a walk-in computer."

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_tape
Reference: http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/UNIVAC-PunchedTape.htm

Travelin Ann
Local time: 01:57
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

5 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

magnetic tape contraptions/devices/machines

magnetic tape contraptions covering the basement walls

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape_data_storage
Reference: http://www.wordreference.com/fren/engin

David Salas
United States
Local time: 00:57
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 3

Grading comment

Thanks, I think I'm going to go with some version of this. You correctly noted the rather sarcastic tone of the text, which requires a less "technical" translation in this case.

4 hrs confidence:

tape unit

Explanation:
I have one or two computing books from the 60s/70s in my collection, and they tend to just refer to "tape units". (As an invention they predate the 70s.)

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Note added at 6 hrs (2010-08-28 02:12:37 GMT)
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P.S. I do also agree with David though -- "engins" seems to have a slightly sarcastic ring to it, so you may not actually want to use a technical term.

Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:57
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

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English translation: magnetic tape contraptions/devices/machines

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English translation: magnetic tape contraptions/devices/machines

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