Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!border-4.nntp.ord.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local-4.nntp.ord.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-3.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 13:59:26 +0000 Subject: Re: Floppies [Was: Re: Microsoft Is Abandoning Windows 11 SE] Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.comp.os.windows-11 References: <106mke5$1di32$1@dont-email.me> <106ukm1$35g8p$3@toylet.eternal-september.org> <106v67a$1cgol$1@news1.tnib.de> <106vfvv$3bpmd$1@toylet.eternal-september.org> <106vi4r$3c9cr$2@dont-email.me> <3ihcmlx47d.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <1070cqj$3jkmu$1@dont-email.me> <1071hu3$1idk1$1@news1.tnib.de> <9fjemlxbio.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <6jefmlxb6j.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <10884l7$173em$1@dont-email.me> <1088lbg$1agt7$1@dont-email.me> <9aadne5uMN4JgTX1nZ2dnZfqn_WdnZ2d@giganews.com> From: c186282 Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 09:59:24 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.13.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: Lines: 95 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-ZxmKVyd2TyMOPLhpHDl+u2AuDR0mUvzBc4GtrECykuXqhKEsyVhR7kmUiUACGGhVXUtbE+4fU0qhV2G!NQim5FpH0N8LqfPLoWLcMudd09Sm4e/RLWcXZizfBRHezB+yIl74WeXV6oha5KT23NkQkvEBc5Y= X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:71924 alt.comp.os.windows-11:22718 On 8/22/25 6:23 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote: > On 2025-08-22 09:30, c186282 wrote: >> On 8/21/25 10:40 PM, Paul wrote: >>> On Thu, 8/21/2025 6:43 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> I know of this because back then I read an article in a computer >>>> magazine where they wrote a "driver" or something that multiplied >>>> the capacity of floppies, playing with the timings. The article went >>>> into all the gory details. >>>> >>>> I wonder how Linux implemented the floppy routines, though. At some >>>> point, someone had to write floppy handling code that worked on any >>>> PC, CPU and speed. >>>> >>> >>> Linux may have handled "better" floppy controller blocks than >>> the one in the example. Did Linux ever work with 8" floppy drives ? >> >>    Never saw that. Linux came along well after 8-inchers. >>    Support was likely seen as "unnecessary". >> >>    I think reading 8-inchers would require custom interface >>    hardware. May have once, briefly, existed but good luck >>    tracking down anything now. >> >>    Last box I had with 8-inchers, I just wired up a funky >>    serial interface to an original IBM-PC and copied the >>    data over that way. Somewhere I have a photo - nest of >>    about ten discrete wires stuck into the ports  :-) >> >>> I think the hardware had advanced a bit past that point. >>> Even our last machine with 8" floppy in it, the staff were basically >>> ignoring the floppy. Back when the only thing you owned was a floppy, >>> it was much more important that it work. Some of our server >>> configurations, >>> seemed to boot off the floppy :-) I think the print server worked >>> that way. >>> You'd boot the floppy and you had a print server. >> >>    8-inchers LOOKED impressive ... but they didn't HOLD >>    very much nor were especially quick. I've still got >>    a few of them around ... because they look cool, not >>    because they're good for anything. A huge number of >>    people even slightly younger than I am NEVER saw an >>    8-inch floppy. >> >>    To paraphrase : "You call THAT a floppy ? Now THIS >>    is a floppy !"  :-) >> >>    Hmmm ... remember the old removable-platter hard drive >>    units ? 99.999% haven't. They'd probably try to remove >>    the pak while it was still spinning  :-) > > No, I don't remember. Only saw them in books or movies :-) > > >> >>    LAST one I ever saw ... weirdly, in the sonar niche >>    of an attack submarine. Mil systems tend to be specced >>    like ten or twelve years before you see actual product. > > I was told a submarine history. > > Someone bought a new computer, guaranteed. It was an Amstrad PC (maybe > the model with hard disk). Days later he came back to the shop, the > machine would not boot. The vendor handed over a new unit. A few days > more, the client came back with another broken machine. I think they > tried once more before the vendor started asked questions. Where are you > installing it? Well, you know, in our navy submarine {name}. (maybe they > were trying in the entire fleet of two or three subs, or only one, > dunno). The vendor quietly said that they would not supply them with any > more computers. > > The computer died soon after they started the diesel engine, the > vibrations killed the computers :-D > > Not knowing much about actual subs in our navy, I'm a bit surprised that > a diesel sub vibrates so much, though. Subs are supposed to be silent, > but perhaps they aren't when they run the old diesel. The diesel is mostly to keep the batteries topped-off. The sub I toured was nuke ... there was a big door with a bunch of "We will KILL you if you enter" kind of stuff writ on it. The military loves its secrets. >>    Anyway, try : >> >> https://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s_drives_howto.html#dunfield > >