Floppy discs

[BSim500]

Very interesting video as are all his videos.It is interesting to note that newer discs from 2000 on are not so good and unreliable even top makes like Sony according *8- bit guy* ,that,s bad news for me.

Have a like just for watching 8-bit guy. Yes, there are storage quirks like that. Eg, some dye-based DVD-R's were worse for "bit-rot" than early CD-R's. Likewise, newer 2022-era TLC / QLC flash storage can have significantly worse unpowered data retention than 10 year old MLC +40nm flash drives vs charge leak.

If all else fails, you could of course join the US Navy whose Aircraft Carrier Food Service Management software still runs on MS-DOS and floppy discs. No, really...

 

[caroline!]

I just saw this video from one of the top Retro you-tubers on floppy Disc s

Very interesting video as are all his videos.It is interesting to note that newer discs from 2000 on are not so good and unreliable even top makes like Sony according *8- bit guy* ,that,s bad news for me.

Quality is indeed different but they do work the same as the older designs. I have a bunch of 3.5" Verbatim diskettes Man. Date 2009 and the only differences with the older ones is that the plastic is clearly cheaper and the shutter isn't metal anymore.

Still got 3 50-pack of them brand new sealed, who knows, maybe they'll be worth a lot in some decades.
My 5.25" though, look like they've have been (ab)used since the 80's, label over label over label.

 

[R-T-B]

If all else fails, you could of course join the US Navy whose Aircraft Carrier Food Service Management software still runs on MS-DOS and floppy discs. No, really...

I mean, the computers that control our ICBM fleet still run off floppies. 8 inch ones IIRC. Sourcing them is becoming hard.

EDIT: oops, seems they fixed that in 2019... still runs on an IBM Series/1 though...

Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (Published 2019)

The Defense Department has transitioned away from a 1970s-era nuclear command and control system that relied on eight-inch floppy disks. The “modernizing” effort was quietly completed in June.

www.nytimes.com

Also, just FYI, old floppies recorded in the 80s/early 90s are coming up against their magnetic storage retention limit. I have a set of old OS/2 boot floppies that are now completely blank...

 

[Greenslade]

Mr Retro himself ,he must have been born Retro ,as he said in one of his videos he was born in 1986 ?I found out in one of his videos ,where people send stuff to him his name is Clint is *LGR* here he is on Floppy
Discs one of his favertate subjects.

 

[BSim500]

Mr Retro himself ,he must have been born Retro ,as he said in one of his videos he was born in 1986 ?I found out in one of his videos ,where people send stuff to him his name is Clint is *LGR* here he is on Floppy
Discs.

LGR too? I must say you have a great taste in Youtube channels. I've found quite a few of his "yet another unboxing roundup of all the stuff you keep sending me..." hauls amusing.

 

[Greenslade]

LGR too? I must say you have a great taste in Youtube channels. I've found quite a few of his "yet another unboxing roundup of all the stuff you keep sending me..." hauls amusing.

I wish there were places like Goodwill in UK. Those blue bins full of crap from all the over stores he even saw a tape recorder with poo on itAnd shredded paper still in the bin it was shredded in.He uses a golf club to look threw them ,if i was him i would wear latex gloves.It is about time he did some more Thrifting.Heres his first one ,lets go Thrifting

 

[Watermelon5]

Lot of flash game .SWF will fit on them as well as actual 80s/90s games

I wish there were places like Goodwill in UK. Those blue bins full of crap from all the over stores he even saw a tape recorder with poo on itAnd shredded paper still in the bin it was shredded in.He uses a golf club to look threw them ,if i was him i would wear latex gloves.It is about time he did some more Thrifting.Heres his first one ,lets go Thrifting

I’ve gone to a few goodwills in my area and never found anything good sadly. Best find was an 80s clock radio that I had to replace the speaker on since it was totally ruined. Too bad they don’t accept donations of CRTs or i’d come a lot more often.

I mean, the computers that control our ICBM fleet still run off floppies. 8 inch ones IIRC. Sourcing them is becoming hard.

EDIT: oops, seems they fixed that in 2019... still runs on an IBM Series/1 though...

Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (Published 2019)

The Defense Department has transitioned away from a 1970s-era nuclear command and control system that relied on eight-inch floppy disks. The “modernizing” effort was quietly completed in June.

www.nytimes.com

Also, just FYI, old floppies recorded in the 80s/early 90s are coming up against their magnetic storage retention limit. I have a set of old OS/2 boot floppies that are now completely blank...

Yeah my windows 98 boot disk magically erased itself one day. Few months ago it worked now it’s blank…

 

[Greenslade]

Lot of flash game .SWF will fit on them as well as actual 80s/90s games


I’ve gone to a few goodwills in my area and never found anything good sadly. Best find was an 80s clock radio that I had to replace the speaker on since it was totally ruined. Too bad they don’t accept donations of CRTs or i’d come a lot more often.


Yeah my windows 98 boot disk magically erased itself one day. Few months ago it worked now it’s blank…

I remember Clint saying they don’t accept donations of CRTs any more.But in a latter episode after he said that he saw some CRT,s in there. What does the LG stand for in LGR we know the R is for Retro.

 

[Chomiq]

Oh, it's "discs". Sorry I misread it as something else.

 

[skizzo]

Oh, it's "discs". Sorry I misread it as something else.

floppy 8===D ?

 

[Chomiq]

floppy 8===D ?

Thing is 3,5" ones weren't really floppy. 5,25" ones were the ones that were floppy AF. Still have some of the Atari 65XE 5,25" floppies with games stashed in the basement. We used drive exactly like this one:

To run games. Sure beats using cassette tapes. Last time I used it the flippy thing was no longer functioning correctly.

 

[skizzo]

lol right I'm old enough to remember when they were actually floppy too, before the form factor shrunk to 3.5". I don't remember ever having to use cassettes though. That is before my time. Funny though, first time I saw them in use was one of my first "real" jobs. Some old paper manufacturing equipment was still using them and it was sold off around 2003....I would hope the group who bought it updated things to more modern systems lol

 

[Greenslade]

Thing is 3,5" ones weren't really floppy. 5,25" ones were the ones that were floppy AF. Still have some of the Atari 65XE 5,25" floppies with games stashed in the basement. We used drive exactly like this one:
View attachment 243577
To run games. Sure beats using cassette tapes. Last time I used it the floppy thing was no longer functioning correctly.

Yes you are right there the 3.5 are in a plastic case.Is it worth my buying these 20 X used Various 3.5" Floppy Discs i sent a message to the seller this is my message to them *Hi do they have any games on them? I suppose if i were to buy them a lot of them want work.i understand Floppy Discs are not reliable.His reply *Hi yes some do have games on them but they are picked at random. I haven't had any one complain as yet about them not working.. but like you said they are a bit hit and miss.
Is it worth taking a chance hoping there are some games on them £7,20 He has sold six lots of them with no problems from the buyers.

 

[lexluthermiester]

NES/SNES ROMs come to mind...

NES, TG16/PCE, GB/GBC, GameGear and Master System games yes. But many SNES and 16bit Sega games are too big for a floppy.

 

[Chomiq]

Yes you are right there the 3.5 are in a plastic case.Is it worth my buying these 20 X used Various 3.5" Floppy Discs i sent a message to the seller this is my message to them *Hi do they have any games on them? I suppose if i were to buy them a lot of them want work.i understand Floppy Discs are not reliable.His reply *Hi yes some do have games on them but they are picked at random. I haven't had any one complain as yet about them not working.. but like you said they are a bit hit and miss.
Is it worth taking a chance hoping there are some games on them £7,20 He has sold six lots of them with no problems from the buyers.

People probably buy them just to erase and use for something else. Foiled packs of Verbatims go for as low as £10. I had enough of CRC errors in my lifetime to never go back to using them.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It is about time he did some more Thrifting.

This! Really wish he would now that shops have opened back up!

 

[Greenslade]

NES, TG16/PCE, GB/GBC, GameGear and Master System games yes. But many SNES and 16bit Sega games are too big for a floppy.

Thanks for that Lex i will give them a try.

People probably buy them just to erase and use for something else. Foiled packs of Verbatims go for as low as £10. I had enough of CRC errors in my lifetime to never go back to using them.

That does not sound goodAny way i have 40 new ones ,i just hope they are okIf the i ones i showed you here were a fiver i would take a chance with them.

This! Really wish he would now that shops have opened back up!

I don,t know why others on you tube are. not doing it. There are woman doing it ,but not for Retro gaming stuff and the like.

 

[Icon Charlie]

It is yes. And a printer that is still working after 22 yearsI bet it is hard to get ink for it.


Thats something else for me to check out ,thanks.

Actually I can go to any office max and get my ink. The HP models for many years used the same type of ink cartridge. Also I can get them refilled or refill them myself. The G85 is a very durable printer. Lube the gears when it needs to be done and it just runs.

My current printer is a Xerox colorqube 8580 color printer which I swear by. This handy little thing helps me with my prepress production work. I'm a traditional game designer and that is an lost art to be honest. That printer uses a wax based ink that is melted on to the page. The colors are incredible and the cost per page is very low compared to normal ink jet printers.

However as state before I have a back up computer with Win 2000 which has my publishing software/games on it.

 

[Greenslade]

Actually I can go to any office max and get my ink. The HP models for many years used the same type of ink cartridge. Also I can get them refilled or refill them myself. The G85 is a very durable printer. Lube the gears when it needs to be done and it just runs.

My current printer is a Xerox colorqube 8580 color printer which I swear by. This handy little thing helps me with my prepress production work. I'm a traditional game designer and that is an lost art to be honest. That printer uses a wax based ink that is melted on to the page. The colors are incredible and the cost per page is very low compared to normal ink jet printers.

However as state before I have a back up computer with Win 2000 which has my publishing software/games on it.

Thats a bit different to Epson were every new modal uses different ink I have had a HP printer for some years now,I get the Remanufactured ones the normal ones are far to Expensive.I did try to refill the Epson ones it is a messy job i got more outside the cartridge then inside it.i want be doing that again.I do a lot less printing than i used to do.Inks are way over priced.

 

[caroline!]

Thats a bit different to Epson were every new modal uses different ink I have had a HP printer for some years now,I get the Remanufactured ones the normal ones are far to Expensive.I did try to refill the Epson ones it is a messy job i got more outside the cartridge then inside it.i want be doing that again.I do a lot less printing than i used to do.Inks are way over priced.

Well, yes, but actually no. Home printers (inkjet AND laser) are a scam, any brand you want, they're made to lure you into a DRM nightmare no matter the brand, the machine costs like $60 but then you have to spend $300 in ink and even if you print just black text the colour ink will deplete, why? because f.... the user that's why. When you buy ink cartridges you're only paying 20% of the price for the ink itself, the rest goes into brand, DRM (mainly) and packaging.

Epson and HP have great printers, but they're business models, like my FX-85 or your HP whatever the model is and you can still get both official and alternative ink after decades. I have a laser monochrome Brother as well and it's a superb machine with all the features I need.

 

[Greenslade]

Well, yes, but actually no. Home printers (inkjet AND laser) are a scam, any brand you want, they're made to lure you into a DRM nightmare no matter the brand, the machine costs like $60 but then you have to spend $300 in ink and even if you print just black text the colour ink will deplete, why? because f.... the user that's why. When you buy ink cartridges you're only paying 20% of the price for the ink itself, the rest goes into brand, DRM (mainly) and packaging.

Epson and HP have great printers, but they're business models, like my FX-85 or your HP whatever the model is and you can still get both official and alternative ink after decades. I have a laser monochrome Brother as well and it's a superb machine with all the features I need.

Yes i realise that ,they sell you a printer with start up inks for very little ink in to get you started.Then charge an arm and leg for there inks.Funny enough i see i am running out of ink.i looked on eBay and saw some very cheap Remanufactured ones i read the reviews the seller had saying they had only printed about 20 pages and it was saying the ink is low.You get what you pay for they were to cheap.
I will pay more and get them from Amazon based on reviews .The ones i have picked are 8 pounds dearer than the ones on eBay.

 

[Ahhzz]

Ok guys, not that there's much discussion to be had about Floppy discs, but we are WAY off topic here. Stick to the OT, or make your own thread. thanks!!

 

[cornemuse]

I remember "Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures", 3 parts, on three 3½" 'floppys". Still have it around, somewheres.

 

[Greenslade]

I remember "Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures", 3 parts, on three 3½" 'floppys". Still have it around, somewheres.

I will give that a try.Nice tune

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Well, yes, but actually no. Home printers (inkjet AND laser) are a scam, any brand you want, they're made to lure you into a DRM nightmare no matter the brand, the machine costs like $60 but then you have to spend $300 in ink and even if you print just black text the colour ink will deplete, why? because f.... the user that's why. When you buy ink cartridges you're only paying 20% of the price for the ink itself, the rest goes into brand, DRM (mainly) and packaging.

Epson and HP have great printers, but they're business models, like my FX-85 or your HP whatever the model is and you can still get both official and alternative ink after decades. I have a laser monochrome Brother as well and it's a superb machine with all the features I need.

Laser printers use toner, not ink, and they dont "dry out" on home models. There's no magic there.

Speaking of business printers, HP's newest lineup requires the use of the HP app with an account in order to print. It will print once on just the bare driver, just to let you know it works and is DRM'd to hell. Business class doesnt mean what it used to.