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Cassette GPS: Setentera Technology

From a time to this part the cassette is coming back. We have heard in some sound store things like that "Its raw sound gives a perfect tonality to certain recordings" and even opinions putting this magnetic format above digital. But… Make no mistake: sound technology has come a long way in the last two decades and, like it or not, the cassette has been totally out of date.

So… Why is it coming back? Well if you are reading The Escudería It is because you are surely a lover of the classics, so you in particular surely can answer this easily: nostalgia sells. That's how it is; for whatever, but it is an empirical data. Just like driving a 1954 car is something as exciting as it is technologically outdated, listening to those eighties cassettes that you grew up with on the same device where Jimi Hendrix or Beethoven first pierced you is something emotionally winning.

Now we see the tapes as a nostalgic memory, as if we were Peter Quill from Guardians of the Galaxy with the cassette that his mother gave him before he died. But be careful, because in the 60s they were a cutting-edge technology that advanced what today is the GPS navigation system incorporated in our current cars. Such a futuristic display that, instead of appearing in a car magazine, it was in the BBC program "Tomorrow's World".

THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN GPS

Well, the truth is that I call this as "The origin" from the GPS it is somewhat risky; after all, a location system places you on the map, while it simply helps you to carry out a certain route as long as you do not make any detour on the pre-recorded route. That is, it has nothing to do with the satellite system because it cannot locate you anywhere ... But it does know where it is as long as it stays on the intended route. How the hell does it work?

Let's see it with an example ... Let's say you want to go from point A to point B. If there is a cassette already recorded with the necessary instructions to make that journey ... You can put it in and let yourself be guided. The pro is that, you go at the speed at which you go, the indication will jump just at the necessary moment to undertake a turn or detour since this device is matched to the car's odometerTherefore, although the device is not a GPS, it does know where it is exactly.

Now knows exactly where you are as long as you don't go off the recorded route. In short, how you have to deviate due to a road cut or any other unforeseen event ... The system goes out of its schemes and will not be able to guide you again since the linear sequence of its operation has been altered, that is, you should return back to the starting point and start over. Something like a video game of the ancients ...

TOO PIONEERING TECHNOLOGY

This prototype located in Belgium in 1971 worked through a kind of small analogue computer connected both to the cassette reader - an element that cars did not incorporate until the late 60s - and to the odometer. All this equipped not with a chip that includes a program capable of solving complex problems, but yes with a series of cartridges that are very reminiscent of the rigid logic of the first computers.

The virtue of this is that it is a really cutting-edge technology for the time, which has undoubtedly been inspiring for navigation systems that “adorn”Almost all current dashboards. The problem ... It is doubled: in the first place, the rigidity of its linear operation, which does not foresee a mechanism with which "Back to last point”In case of encountering something unforeseen on the route; and secondly the fact that you would need to carry a whole suitcase full of suitably updated tapes referring to a multitude of journeys. At least if you don't want to always do the same trip ...

Perhaps these are the reasons why this system did not go beyond a mere experimental phase. In fact, even rummaging through our sources of information, we have found no more mention of this than when it was mounted on this Beetle.

Be that as it may, the truth is that we are lovers of these ancient innovations that are now delicious memories. Can you imagine preparing one of these navigation cassettes with your voice and listening to it in a classic at the same time as one of those tapes that you still have in a drawer? Would not be bad…

"Get ready, the Howitzer is going to explode ..." - "Turn right, in, Cuesta de San Vicente, direction, Plaza de España ..."

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Written by Miguel Sánchez

Through the news from La Escudería, we will travel the winding roads of Maranello listening to the roar of the Italian V12; We will travel Route66 in search of the power of the great American engines; we will get lost in the narrow English lanes tracking the elegance of their sports cars; We will speed up the braking in the curves of the Monte Carlo Rally and we will even get dusty in a garage while rescuing lost jewels.

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