Topic: Floppy disks are so 20th century... (Read 6211 times)

Scott Allen Abfalter · « **on:** March 18, 2004, 04:21:28 pm »

It's been a while since I actually had to use a floppy drive (in fact when I ordered a new computer a few months back, I had them leave off the floppy drive to save $20).

But I needed to use one at work. So I blew the dust off of a floppy I had sitting around, inserted it and waited for a second.

"Why did I wait?" you ask? Good question, because I found myself asking the same thing.

Then I realized that I was waiting for it to 'spin up' just like a CD-ROM!

*sigh*

ActiveX · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:25:39 pm »

I only have one so I can store secret files without anyone accessing them...

Death_Merchant · « **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:34:32 pm »

I prefer Macs..

No floppies since 1997!

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:52:36 pm »

No SFC since forever.

Sirgod · « **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:59:14 pm »

Heck I've got about three Floppy Drives lying in a box, Brand new, Never used. add to that one old 5 and a quarter Floppy, That was used only once.

But Most System's I Build, I don't even bother with them anymore. when was the last time you bought software that needed a three and a half Inch Floppy?

stephen

NJAntman · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2004, 05:26:05 pm »

We still use 3.5s in our lab to daily transfer test data from a non-networked testing machine (built in Pentium with a whopping 64Mb RAM) onto the networked desktops. Cumbersome but very convenient point of, ahem, "access", should the data need to be "tweaked", shall I say (simple .txt file format). Still waiting for our ISO inspector to pick up on that aspect, so mums the word!

The IT folks have about 200+ surplus floppies of various lineage that I can use. Quite a few Win95 variety.

Elvis · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2004, 08:42:25 pm »

I just built a machine with SATA hard drives and you need a floppy to load the drivers so Windows will recognize the drives and install.

Iceman · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2004, 09:58:19 pm »

Indeed, if I reformatted I'd need one to install my CD-Drive.

Death_Merchant · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2004, 10:07:46 pm »

Quote:

No SFC since forever.

That Sir, was harsh.

On the other hand, SFC has never crashed my Mac

E_Look · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2004, 10:14:35 pm »

Yeah, Elvis, same here.

But you know, I still miss the combo 3.5" and 5.25" FDD I had on my sweet ol' 80486. It came in a Gateway baby AT box and so needed to conserve all the drive bays it could... not that there was much upgrading done by too many folks in those days. It came with a (now considered oh, so slow) CD-ROM drive, and some tiny HDD and that left essentally no bays free!

Scott Allen Abfalter · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2004, 09:35:42 am »

Anyone ever seen one of the old 8" floppy disks? I saw some a LONG time ago in a Radio Shack for their (if I recall) 'Model II' Z80 based computer.

I am so old.

E_Look · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2004, 10:16:48 am »

Man! I almost worked with one! At the time there were still a few old machines (hey, I forget, were they Osborn or some other such make?) that used the 8" FDDs where I was. But the people who had them treated them as gold or platinum and restricted access to them. You is old???

Stormbringer · « **Reply #12 on:** March 19, 2004, 11:02:26 am »

Single bios MBs sometimes don't allow bios flashes from other media. Floppy is still the easiest and most universal means of flashing bios and installing some drivers. Also a floppy boot disk is still a lifesaver if your HD acts up. The floppy still has a little life left in in for the next few years anyway.

TB613 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 19, 2004, 01:55:15 pm »

When I built my new machine last fall I put a floppy drive in even though I will hardly ever use it. Even Intel which is one of the prime movers in removing legacy devices from computers still puts a floppy connection onto it's high end motherboards so I would say that there is still at least some life in the old beasts yet. The computer manufactures like the idea of removing it because they can save a few dollars in costs on each usit which equates to more profit and it is not missed by the majority of their customers.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #14 on:** March 19, 2004, 02:45:50 pm »

I agree. But a floppy can still save your butt in emergencies.

James_Smith · « **Reply #15 on:** March 19, 2004, 07:41:06 pm »

There are only two reasons I still have a 3.5" FDD still in my rig - bios flashing and FDISK. Those USB memory sticks have taken over from floppies for all my document transfer needs.

Pestalence · « **Reply #17 on:** March 19, 2004, 09:17:07 pm »

During the Dawn of the P III computers and while I was going for my batcheloprs in Electronic Engineering.. our computer lab was operating 80386 IBM PC's with 512K mem with 5 1/4" floppy disks which we had to use our software on.. i had to buy a 5 1/4 for my home system just so i could do the homework.. lol..

man i felt so old as my first system was an Adam 8086 system with casette drive and 8K mem and expansion cartridges for memory and software.. want to do wordpad... insert cartridge into a slot and press the activation button on the card holder.. lol then you could run the program.. however you had to save each page to the casette.. and recall the pages 1 at a time...

Talk about an old system..

SL-Punisher · « **Reply #21 on:** March 24, 2004, 06:34:09 pm »

We still have them at work due to Milspec requirments. Why I don't know. When I ask I was told "Because they said so"

Umm...

Okie dokie then.

Scott Allen Abfalter · « **Reply #22 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:21:28 pm »

It's been a while since I actually had to use a floppy drive (in fact when I ordered a new computer a few months back, I had them leave off the floppy drive to save $20).

But I needed to use one at work. So I blew the dust off of a floppy I had sitting around, inserted it and waited for a second.

"Why did I wait?" you ask? Good question, because I found myself asking the same thing.

Then I realized that I was waiting for it to 'spin up' just like a CD-ROM!

*sigh*

ActiveX · « **Reply #23 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:25:39 pm »

I only have one so I can store secret files without anyone accessing them...

Death_Merchant · « **Reply #24 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:34:32 pm »

I prefer Macs..

No floppies since 1997!

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #25 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:52:36 pm »

No SFC since forever.

Sirgod · « **Reply #26 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:59:14 pm »

Heck I've got about three Floppy Drives lying in a box, Brand new, Never used. add to that one old 5 and a quarter Floppy, That was used only once.

But Most System's I Build, I don't even bother with them anymore. when was the last time you bought software that needed a three and a half Inch Floppy?

stephen

NJAntman · « **Reply #27 on:** March 18, 2004, 05:26:05 pm »

We still use 3.5s in our lab to daily transfer test data from a non-networked testing machine (built in Pentium with a whopping 64Mb RAM) onto the networked desktops. Cumbersome but very convenient point of, ahem, "access", should the data need to be "tweaked", shall I say (simple .txt file format). Still waiting for our ISO inspector to pick up on that aspect, so mums the word!

The IT folks have about 200+ surplus floppies of various lineage that I can use. Quite a few Win95 variety.

Elvis · « **Reply #28 on:** March 18, 2004, 08:42:25 pm »

I just built a machine with SATA hard drives and you need a floppy to load the drivers so Windows will recognize the drives and install.

Iceman · « **Reply #29 on:** March 18, 2004, 09:58:19 pm »

Indeed, if I reformatted I'd need one to install my CD-Drive.

E_Look · « **Reply #31 on:** March 18, 2004, 10:14:35 pm »

Yeah, Elvis, same here.

But you know, I still miss the combo 3.5" and 5.25" FDD I had on my sweet ol' 80486. It came in a Gateway baby AT box and so needed to conserve all the drive bays it could... not that there was much upgrading done by too many folks in those days. It came with a (now considered oh, so slow) CD-ROM drive, and some tiny HDD and that left essentally no bays free!

Scott Allen Abfalter · « **Reply #32 on:** March 19, 2004, 09:35:42 am »

Anyone ever seen one of the old 8" floppy disks? I saw some a LONG time ago in a Radio Shack for their (if I recall) 'Model II' Z80 based computer.

I am so old.

E_Look · « **Reply #33 on:** March 19, 2004, 10:16:48 am »

Man! I almost worked with one! At the time there were still a few old machines (hey, I forget, were they Osborn or some other such make?) that used the 8" FDDs where I was. But the people who had them treated them as gold or platinum and restricted access to them. You is old???

Stormbringer · « **Reply #34 on:** March 19, 2004, 11:02:26 am »

Single bios MBs sometimes don't allow bios flashes from other media. Floppy is still the easiest and most universal means of flashing bios and installing some drivers. Also a floppy boot disk is still a lifesaver if your HD acts up. The floppy still has a little life left in in for the next few years anyway.

TB613 · « **Reply #35 on:** March 19, 2004, 01:55:15 pm »

When I built my new machine last fall I put a floppy drive in even though I will hardly ever use it. Even Intel which is one of the prime movers in removing legacy devices from computers still puts a floppy connection onto it's high end motherboards so I would say that there is still at least some life in the old beasts yet. The computer manufactures like the idea of removing it because they can save a few dollars in costs on each usit which equates to more profit and it is not missed by the majority of their customers.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #36 on:** March 19, 2004, 02:45:50 pm »

I agree. But a floppy can still save your butt in emergencies.

James_Smith · « **Reply #37 on:** March 19, 2004, 07:41:06 pm »

There are only two reasons I still have a 3.5" FDD still in my rig - bios flashing and FDISK. Those USB memory sticks have taken over from floppies for all my document transfer needs.

Pestalence · « **Reply #39 on:** March 19, 2004, 09:17:07 pm »

During the Dawn of the P III computers and while I was going for my batcheloprs in Electronic Engineering.. our computer lab was operating 80386 IBM PC's with 512K mem with 5 1/4" floppy disks which we had to use our software on.. i had to buy a 5 1/4 for my home system just so i could do the homework.. lol..

man i felt so old as my first system was an Adam 8086 system with casette drive and 8K mem and expansion cartridges for memory and software.. want to do wordpad... insert cartridge into a slot and press the activation button on the card holder.. lol then you could run the program.. however you had to save each page to the casette.. and recall the pages 1 at a time...

Talk about an old system..

SL-Punisher · « **Reply #43 on:** March 24, 2004, 06:34:09 pm »

We still have them at work due to Milspec requirments. Why I don't know. When I ask I was told "Because they said so"

Umm...

Okie dokie then.

Scott Allen Abfalter · « **Reply #44 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:21:28 pm »

It's been a while since I actually had to use a floppy drive (in fact when I ordered a new computer a few months back, I had them leave off the floppy drive to save $20).

But I needed to use one at work. So I blew the dust off of a floppy I had sitting around, inserted it and waited for a second.

"Why did I wait?" you ask? Good question, because I found myself asking the same thing.

Then I realized that I was waiting for it to 'spin up' just like a CD-ROM!

*sigh*

ActiveX · « **Reply #45 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:25:39 pm »

I only have one so I can store secret files without anyone accessing them...

Death_Merchant · « **Reply #46 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:34:32 pm »

I prefer Macs..

No floppies since 1997!

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #47 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:52:36 pm »

No SFC since forever.

Sirgod · « **Reply #48 on:** March 18, 2004, 04:59:14 pm »

Heck I've got about three Floppy Drives lying in a box, Brand new, Never used. add to that one old 5 and a quarter Floppy, That was used only once.

But Most System's I Build, I don't even bother with them anymore. when was the last time you bought software that needed a three and a half Inch Floppy?

stephen

NJAntman · « **Reply #49 on:** March 18, 2004, 05:26:05 pm »

We still use 3.5s in our lab to daily transfer test data from a non-networked testing machine (built in Pentium with a whopping 64Mb RAM) onto the networked desktops. Cumbersome but very convenient point of, ahem, "access", should the data need to be "tweaked", shall I say (simple .txt file format). Still waiting for our ISO inspector to pick up on that aspect, so mums the word!

The IT folks have about 200+ surplus floppies of various lineage that I can use. Quite a few Win95 variety.

Elvis · « **Reply #50 on:** March 18, 2004, 08:42:25 pm »

I just built a machine with SATA hard drives and you need a floppy to load the drivers so Windows will recognize the drives and install.

Iceman · « **Reply #51 on:** March 18, 2004, 09:58:19 pm »

Indeed, if I reformatted I'd need one to install my CD-Drive.

E_Look · « **Reply #53 on:** March 18, 2004, 10:14:35 pm »

Yeah, Elvis, same here.

But you know, I still miss the combo 3.5" and 5.25" FDD I had on my sweet ol' 80486. It came in a Gateway baby AT box and so needed to conserve all the drive bays it could... not that there was much upgrading done by too many folks in those days. It came with a (now considered oh, so slow) CD-ROM drive, and some tiny HDD and that left essentally no bays free!

Scott Allen Abfalter · « **Reply #54 on:** March 19, 2004, 09:35:42 am »

Anyone ever seen one of the old 8" floppy disks? I saw some a LONG time ago in a Radio Shack for their (if I recall) 'Model II' Z80 based computer.

I am so old.

E_Look · « **Reply #55 on:** March 19, 2004, 10:16:48 am »

Man! I almost worked with one! At the time there were still a few old machines (hey, I forget, were they Osborn or some other such make?) that used the 8" FDDs where I was. But the people who had them treated them as gold or platinum and restricted access to them. You is old???

Stormbringer · « **Reply #56 on:** March 19, 2004, 11:02:26 am »

Single bios MBs sometimes don't allow bios flashes from other media. Floppy is still the easiest and most universal means of flashing bios and installing some drivers. Also a floppy boot disk is still a lifesaver if your HD acts up. The floppy still has a little life left in in for the next few years anyway.

TB613 · « **Reply #57 on:** March 19, 2004, 01:55:15 pm »

When I built my new machine last fall I put a floppy drive in even though I will hardly ever use it. Even Intel which is one of the prime movers in removing legacy devices from computers still puts a floppy connection onto it's high end motherboards so I would say that there is still at least some life in the old beasts yet. The computer manufactures like the idea of removing it because they can save a few dollars in costs on each usit which equates to more profit and it is not missed by the majority of their customers.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #58 on:** March 19, 2004, 02:45:50 pm »

I agree. But a floppy can still save your butt in emergencies.

James_Smith · « **Reply #59 on:** March 19, 2004, 07:41:06 pm »

There are only two reasons I still have a 3.5" FDD still in my rig - bios flashing and FDISK. Those USB memory sticks have taken over from floppies for all my document transfer needs.

Pestalence · « **Reply #61 on:** March 19, 2004, 09:17:07 pm »

During the Dawn of the P III computers and while I was going for my batcheloprs in Electronic Engineering.. our computer lab was operating 80386 IBM PC's with 512K mem with 5 1/4" floppy disks which we had to use our software on.. i had to buy a 5 1/4 for my home system just so i could do the homework.. lol..

man i felt so old as my first system was an Adam 8086 system with casette drive and 8K mem and expansion cartridges for memory and software.. want to do wordpad... insert cartridge into a slot and press the activation button on the card holder.. lol then you could run the program.. however you had to save each page to the casette.. and recall the pages 1 at a time...

Talk about an old system..

SL-Punisher · « **Reply #65 on:** March 24, 2004, 06:34:09 pm »

We still have them at work due to Milspec requirments. Why I don't know. When I ask I was told "Because they said so"

Umm...

Okie dokie then.

News:

Topic: Floppy disks are so 20th century... (Read 6211 times) var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

Scott Allen Abfalter

ActiveX

Death_Merchant

EmeraldEdge

Sirgod

NJAntman

Elvis

Iceman

Death_Merchant

E_Look

Scott Allen Abfalter

E_Look

Stormbringer

TB613

Stormbringer

James_Smith

IKV Nemesis D7L

Pestalence

Towelie

Towelie

Javora

SL-Punisher

Scott Allen Abfalter

ActiveX

Death_Merchant

EmeraldEdge

Sirgod

NJAntman

Elvis

Iceman

Death_Merchant

E_Look

Scott Allen Abfalter

E_Look

Stormbringer

TB613

Stormbringer

James_Smith

IKV Nemesis D7L

Pestalence

Towelie

Towelie

Javora

SL-Punisher

Scott Allen Abfalter

ActiveX

Death_Merchant

EmeraldEdge

Sirgod

NJAntman

Elvis

Iceman

Death_Merchant

E_Look

Scott Allen Abfalter

E_Look

Stormbringer

TB613

Stormbringer

James_Smith

IKV Nemesis D7L

Pestalence

Towelie

Towelie

Javora

SL-Punisher

Topic: Floppy disks are so 20th century... (Read 6211 times)