My first experience with a minicomputer was with a DEC PDP 11/45 that you booted via paper tape.
God forbid anything happened to that tape :) We stored two fresh duplicates in a bank vault.
We had a paper tape reader on a gubermint aircraft I used to fly on. The reader would spit the tape out into a big rats nest in the middle of the aisleway. You had to hunt around in various cabinets for the rewinder (hoping the battery was still good), while trying not to step on the paper tape.