The Floppy Disk (2011)(ibm.com)
ibm.com
The Floppy Disk (2011)
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/floppy/
42 comments
Minidiscs should have won for both audio and data. They’re perfect for long-term archival storage and they’re just plain cool. If only Sony wasn’t so shortsighted.
I wanted a data drive for my mini disks so bad back in the 90s. It just never happened and writeable CDs happened instead.
A guy I knew in high school back then was actually working on that: turning a commercial mini-disk player into a data storage drive. He said it was really difficult because the (lossy) compression was baked into the hardware. I don't remember if he succeeded to any degree.
Anecdote: My friend in high school found that he could drill a hole in a 720KB floppy and transform it into a 1.44MB floppy, saving a few bucks. In 1993, this was practically magic.
Demagnetizing a 1.44MB disk before formatting it and taping over that same hole was the inverse magic trick by the end of the 90s when it got harder to find the 720KB floppies.
I don't think "people called it the sneakernet" until much later after any other kinds of nets existed for a while.
Also it's not exactly remarkably virtuous to be willing to obsolete an old thing when you own the new thing. Most companies even artificially obsolete their stuff as fast as possible just to make you buy the new thing. Then I saw the domain. Why was this even posted?
Also it's not exactly remarkably virtuous to be willing to obsolete an old thing when you own the new thing. Most companies even artificially obsolete their stuff as fast as possible just to make you buy the new thing. Then I saw the domain. Why was this even posted?
I miss the sound of popping a floppy disk in the drive.
It's kinda weird but if I don't think too long about it I still sorta associate 3.5" as "modern", where as the classic floppies are the 5.25".
It's silly at this point in time but windows 3.11 (the first version of windows I used) also feel decidedly "modern" where as DOS is "old" (even though less than 10 years separated my first experiences with them, and both were way longer than 10 years ago).
It's silly at this point in time but windows 3.11 (the first version of windows I used) also feel decidedly "modern" where as DOS is "old" (even though less than 10 years separated my first experiences with them, and both were way longer than 10 years ago).
I have a thing for dialup modem handshake sounds.
I use a modem sound for text message notification. It occasionally starts some fun, nostalgic conversations.
When I was on call, however, pager storms resulted in the phone being muted quickly. Nothing helps the stress of triaging production issues like the high pitched scream of suppressors and cancellers being disabled.
When I was on call, however, pager storms resulted in the phone being muted quickly. Nothing helps the stress of triaging production issues like the high pitched scream of suppressors and cancellers being disabled.
I miss all the old PC sounds except the fans.
This has me thinking but I don't like to assume. I recall most of my first computers really not having any dedicated fans until around 1999 - they mostly used the power supply to pull an airflow through cases.
I do miss some of the sounds that let you know machines were doing something - but we also had indication lights, too - mostly gone now, for disk drives. Heck my first laptop had a second LCD to show battery level without the machine even being on.
I do miss some of the sounds that let you know machines were doing something - but we also had indication lights, too - mostly gone now, for disk drives. Heck my first laptop had a second LCD to show battery level without the machine even being on.
>Heck my first laptop had a second LCD to show battery level without the machine even being on
Many modern laptops still do this though. Dell XPS had some LEDs on the side and a button on the case that when pressed would light up the LEDs as a percentage indicator of battery charge, and my 2 year old Lenovo has this feature built into the motherboard EC controller and Bios that when I press any key on the keyboard when the laptop is OFF, it wakes the laptop's own display to show battery percentage. Modern laptops have many neat features.
Many modern laptops still do this though. Dell XPS had some LEDs on the side and a button on the case that when pressed would light up the LEDs as a percentage indicator of battery charge, and my 2 year old Lenovo has this feature built into the motherboard EC controller and Bios that when I press any key on the keyboard when the laptop is OFF, it wakes the laptop's own display to show battery percentage. Modern laptops have many neat features.
Although not all floppies there's something nice about the sound of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMe2vza46cQ
I think 95-96 was the first machines I had that had a processor fan (at the high end). Otherwise they just had a power supply fan, but it was more “massive” in a way. You’d click that switch and you could hear the fan spool up.
For a few years cpu fans were something overclockers did.
There are others, but if you’re a Mac user, I wrote DriveLight[0] to have a disk activity light.
0 - https://ttkb.co/soft/drivelight/
0 - https://ttkb.co/soft/drivelight/
I'm pretty sure the original Pentium ('93) was when CPU fans became mandatory.
It's a pretty nuanced thing.
Some large OEMs with the resources to do the design effort could use a large passive heatsink on even surprisingly late processor (i. e. Pentium 4) because they could make a holistic design with shrouds and baffles and know you were getting just enough airflow from a case fan elsewhere to keep the CPU within spec.
Early ATX designs, in fact, were often based on "the PSU has its fan placed so that it will draw air over the CPU heatsink and out the back"
Enthusiasts, obviously, went for brute force designs.
Some large OEMs with the resources to do the design effort could use a large passive heatsink on even surprisingly late processor (i. e. Pentium 4) because they could make a holistic design with shrouds and baffles and know you were getting just enough airflow from a case fan elsewhere to keep the CPU within spec.
Early ATX designs, in fact, were often based on "the PSU has its fan placed so that it will draw air over the CPU heatsink and out the back"
Enthusiasts, obviously, went for brute force designs.
You know, now that you've mentioned it I pity the kids today and tomorrow who won't experience a computer that makes sounds.
For kid me, the sound of floppy drives, hard drives, and optical drives were simply mesmerizing to witness. Those were the sounds of the computer performing magic before my eyes and ears.
For kid me, the sound of floppy drives, hard drives, and optical drives were simply mesmerizing to witness. Those were the sounds of the computer performing magic before my eyes and ears.
I do not miss the high pitched whine of 90's harddrives.
Not just the whine, but the deep crunch synced with the drive activity light.
It provided some hope that an unresponsive computer was in the middle of a monumental task. Any flicker of light or change on cadence was reassurance that progress was being made and would complete should you wait just a little bit longer.
It provided some hope that an unresponsive computer was in the middle of a monumental task. Any flicker of light or change on cadence was reassurance that progress was being made and would complete should you wait just a little bit longer.
There was something visceral about the sound of an old PC laboriously whirring to life.
The Windows 3.1 "tada.wav" sound
Article has inaccuracies.
The HD floppy is to formatted 1.44MB, not 1.2MB, and unformatted capacity was 2.0MB.
People did not program word processors themselves as they didn't exist, typewriters did.
Later, pre disk, magazines type-ins and software on (magnetic) tapes were common means of software distribution.
How to tell me your under 30 without telling me you're under 30 :D
The HD floppy is to formatted 1.44MB, not 1.2MB, and unformatted capacity was 2.0MB.
People did not program word processors themselves as they didn't exist, typewriters did.
Later, pre disk, magazines type-ins and software on (magnetic) tapes were common means of software distribution.
How to tell me your under 30 without telling me you're under 30 :D
>People did not program word processors themselves as they didn't exist, typewriters did.
That's funny. I had to laugh that off.
Now the type in magazines at the time were amazing - especially with error checking "co-routines" to make sure you did it right. But there were bugs in printed material that a month or two later you could fix from the errors section. Best use case of a subscription model assuming you didn't want to fix it yourself or redo it all etc... Also as a side to that there was a barcode scanner for the code for a few publications.
Fun times.
That's funny. I had to laugh that off.
Now the type in magazines at the time were amazing - especially with error checking "co-routines" to make sure you did it right. But there were bugs in printed material that a month or two later you could fix from the errors section. Best use case of a subscription model assuming you didn't want to fix it yourself or redo it all etc... Also as a side to that there was a barcode scanner for the code for a few publications.
Fun times.
I believe floppy 5.25" diskettes with 1.2mb predated the harder but eventually more common 3.5" 1.44mb ones. 5.25 were my first diskettes on a 286 at with 16mhz TURBO whee :-)
Funny enough the 5.25s were actually floppy. The 3.5s weren’t and I’m not sure why we didn’t call them mini hard disks.
Inside the 3.5" hard shell, there is a floppy disc.
Inside a hard disc drive, there are aluminum or glass discs.
Inside a hard disc drive, there are aluminum or glass discs.
> Funny enough the 5.25s were actually floppy.
Everything is relative. Relative to 8 inch floppies, 5.25 inch ones aren’t very floppy. 8 inch ones visually bend under their own weight.
Everything is relative. Relative to 8 inch floppies, 5.25 inch ones aren’t very floppy. 8 inch ones visually bend under their own weight.
If you ever come across a damaged 3,5" floppy disk, rip it apart & see, will you? (plz. don't do this with still-good ones).
In the meanwhile, I'll have your geek card. Thx!
In the meanwhile, I'll have your geek card. Thx!
5.25“ HD floppies were 1.2MB. 3.5" HD floppies were 1.44MB.
Pedantically, the PC DOS 3 1/2" HD format is 1440 * 1024 bytes[1], so either 1.47456 MB (SI) or 1.40625 MiB (IEC), though "1.44 MB" was the official IBM designation for the format.
[1] 2 sides / disk * 18 tracks / side * 80 sectors / track * 512 bytes / sector = 1,474,560 bytes = 1440 * 1024 bytes
[1] 2 sides / disk * 18 tracks / side * 80 sectors / track * 512 bytes / sector = 1,474,560 bytes = 1440 * 1024 bytes
I remember the free space on a 1.44 MB freshly formatted floppy disc under DOS 5.0 was 1,457,664 bytes. I guess the file system metadata used up 16,896 bytes.
>The HD floppy is to formatted 1.44MB, not 1.2MB, and unformatted capacity was 2.0MB.
The unformatted capacity isn't measured in MB. A floppy is analog media.
The controller deals with an analog signal from/to the floppy drive, which in turn is translated with the floppy's surface itself through the drive's header.
There's a variety of physical formats by which to coerce data into tracks.
The unformatted capacity isn't measured in MB. A floppy is analog media.
The controller deals with an analog signal from/to the floppy drive, which in turn is translated with the floppy's surface itself through the drive's header.
There's a variety of physical formats by which to coerce data into tracks.
The article at one point quotes a "disk drive analyst." Man I don't know if we have those anymore either.
Backblaze performs some of that role.
It's still the icon many programs use for "save file".
Great podcast on the subject
https://adventofcomputing.com/flop-cast/
https://adventofcomputing.com/flop-cast/
Not quite. The Disk II Interface Card wasn't available till 1978. It supported two drives. But the card and drives were options. A couple ads re-affirming my memory:
https://brian.carnell.com/articles/2021/apple-ii-ad-1978/
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d9/92/81/d99281c7517692b48093...
The second ad has this copy:
> Apple II'™ is a completely self-contained computer system with BASIC in ROM, color graphics, ASCII key board, light-weight, efficient switching power supply and molded case. It is supplied with BASIC in ROM, up to 48K bytes of RAM, and with cassette tape, video and game I/O interfaces built-in. Also included are two game paddles and a demonstration cassette.
I owned an Apple II fully loaded and upgraded to a II+. (I actually still have most of it in a closet and someday need to get it functional again.)
The Disk II Interface Card was another one of Woz's legendary designs:
https://www.bigmessowires.com/2021/11/12/the-amazing-disk-ii...