Recycle – Floppydisks

vunderba•about 2 hours ago

Relatedly, I was recently digging through the attic at my family’s home and came across a 3.5" disk containing a bunch of QBASIC programs I’d written in the early ’90s. Despite sitting for decades in a non–climate-controlled attic, it loaded up just fine when I plugged it into a USB floppy drive. Honestly, looking back at code from 30+ years ago felt more like an archaeology expedition.

Also how many other kids also went around brandishing 3.5" floppies like a weird gun, "cocking them" by pulling back the shutter and letting it go with a satisfying snap?

qiqitori•1 minute ago

A while ago I learned that very early versions of 3.5" floppies didn't have the auto shutter mechanism and you had to open and close the shutter manually. (I think that was probably just used on some Japanese Sony machines.)

mister_mort•19 minutes ago

I definitely remember doing that as a kid, and I remember bending the thin metal off some broken ones. Whatever brand I was using allowed that metal to work a bit like a spring, you could launch it by compressing it. (Sorta like the frogs you find in Christmas bonbons.)

recursive•30 minutes ago

Definitely can still feel the spring sensation.

Waterluvian•about 1 hour ago

If you loosen the metal cover just right you can make it go absolutely sailing across a computer lab (or any room, I bet).

NickNaraghi•about 2 hours ago

These used to be 50 cents a piece at my high school library. What a joy it was to have a tiny simple way to transport essays (and pixel art and other fun things) to and from school and amongst all the school computers.

mrkpdl•38 minutes ago

Yes! But beware the one computer in the second row that wrecks your disk, learned one by one, the hard way.

phendrenad2•about 1 hour ago

"Add to cart" does nothing. Wonder if they actually sell floppies, or just shred them to keep pushing us towards modern technology.

Joel_Mckay•20 minutes ago

For old equipment, there are very good alternative methods =3

https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy

Recycle – Floppydisks

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