but a later firmware revision eased the flow-control problems. The RT11 single-user operating system can be bootstrapped from a TU58, but the relatively slow access time of the tape drive makes use of the system challenging to an impatient user. Like its predecessor DECtape, and like the faster RX01 floppies used on the VAX-11/780, a DECtape II cartridge has a capacity of about 256 kilobytes. Unlike the original DECtape media, DECtape II cartridges cannot be formatted on the tape drive transports sold to end-users, and have to be purchased in a factory pre-formatted state. The TU58 is also used with other computers, such as the Automatix Autovision machine vision system and AI32 robot controller. TU58 driver software is available for modern PCs running DOS. Early production TU58s suffered from some reliability and data interchangeability problems, which were eventually resolved. However, rapid advances in low-cost floppy disk technology, which had an inherent speed advantage, soon outflanked the DECtape II and rendered it obsolete. See also LINC additional material on LINCtape lineage and operation References External links TU56 DECtape Drive Information DECtape Documentation at bitsavers.org VT103 manual at bitsavers.org. Appendix A describes the TU58 interface protocol. DEC hardware History of computing hardware Computer-related introductions in 1963