01-09-2003 07:18									#1
	Floppies? Inflate your Upload Space

Aren't they useless? I have only used them three times since 2001.

(1) Boot-up disk creation
(2) Drivers disk
(3) Transferring a file from an ancient PC

	01-09-2003 07:19									#2
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Only as a boot disk here.

	01-09-2003 07:20									#3
	Remove this text

I use em time and again, like going to the library at uni to print off work and I can't be arsed to email it to myself.

	01-09-2003 07:21									#4
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Floppies are obsolete and being discontinued.

My brand new ThinkPad, for example, came with no floppy. And why would you need one? They're totally useless on modern computers.

For the odd case when a computer doesn't have USB, FireWire, Internet, Ethernet, or a CD-ROM, I suppose you could use a floppy...but that's so rare. And that's why they have USB floppy drives.

Not to mention that floppies are one of the worst storage mediums for stability...I can't count how many floppies I've had become corrupt.

	01-09-2003 07:22									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

When you're on a dial-up, floppies can be useful for transferring documents. They're not completely useless yet.

	01-09-2003 07:23									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Why? A dialup and a floppy aren't too different in terms of speed.

A floppy is WAY more likely to go bad than the internet, though.

	01-09-2003 07:24									#7
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Yeah, but if the computers are in close proximity and not networked can still be easier

It's also quicker than writing to cdrom.

	01-09-2003 07:26									#8
	Increase Your PM Length

CDROMs are plenty fast if it's formatted. Copy and past,ee, use it like a floppy. The difference is it holds 700MB instead of 1.4MB, and writes at 4800KB/s instead of 5KB/s.

Personally, I prefer USB drives. The simply kick ass. You can even boot computers with them now.

I've got a 128MB keychain drive.

	01-09-2003 07:27									#9
	Tired of ads?

USB drives? Meh. They're not really a "standard" and are hella expensive compared to a CD-RW disc.

	01-09-2003 07:28									#10
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

The truth of the matter is there are lots of old and "obsolete" computers out in the Real World.

	01-09-2003 07:29									#11
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Not all of us have pater and mater around to buy computers off NASA, Ashybabes

	01-09-2003 07:33									#12
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by red_jon Not all of us have pater and mater around to buy computers off NASA, Ashybabes

You can get a 64MB drive for like $40CDN now...which is pennies in real currency.

And, of course UR, the fact of the matter is -- if you're using old computers, you use old technology. How profound of you.

Those of us fortunate enough to not live in the stoneage find them quite obsolete and pity those who must use them.

	01-09-2003 07:35									#13
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quote: Originally posted by Asher Those of us fortunate enough to not live in the stoneage find them quite obsolete and pity those who must use them.

Possibly the most snobbish comment I've heard this week.

	01-09-2003 07:39									#14
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Hey, I still need a floppy to flash the BIOS, or transfer data fast to school. And not everyone is rich enough to upgrade, they are still used for boot disks and file swappers. Integrity is not needed when moving a file four feet across a room...

	01-09-2003 07:39									#15
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I flash my BIOS from inside Windows.

	01-09-2003 07:42									#16
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I reckon they'll wind up recontinuing floppy drives. Too many people still use them.

	01-09-2003 07:43									#17
	Increase Your PM Length

They still make them, they just don't come by default anymore.

	01-09-2003 07:45									#18
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I have a feeling my computer is f'ed up, the flash utility that came with the mobo complains about corrupted files, after reinstall, re-download, etc. I used to like my A7N8X .

	01-09-2003 07:46									#19
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How expesnive the the aprrox 50mb memory keys that plug into a usb port.

	01-09-2003 07:47									#20
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Newegg.com has a 64MB USB 2.0 memory key that is $27.50US: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...tion=64MB%2CUSB

	01-09-2003 07:48									#21
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Dell mid-range PCs still ship with them link

	01-09-2003 07:49									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Asher And, of course UR, the fact of the matter is -- if you're using old computers, you use old technology. How profound of you.

Therefore, floppies have lots of practical uses in the Real World, where businesses can't and/or won't upgrade their wintel boxes every 2 or 3 years.

	01-09-2003 07:50									#23
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quote: Originally posted by Urban Ranger Therefore, floppies have lots of practical uses in the Real World, where businesses can't and/or won't upgrade their wintel boxes every 2 or 3 years.

USB has been shipping on every PC for 4-5 years.

So if business won't upgrade their wintel boxes every 4-5 years, they won't be in business for long anyway.

	01-09-2003 07:51									#24
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Or 128MB for $~35 pricegrabber

	01-09-2003 07:52									#25
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

You can run Word and Excel just as well on a 4 year old computer.

	01-09-2003 07:54									#26
	Remove this text

True, to an extent.

My dad's company (although it's a huge corporation) replaces all 40,000 desktop PCs every two years like clockwork.

Even the retirement home I work at and the small stair-making business I work at don't have PCs older than 3 years.

	01-09-2003 07:55									#27
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Our b&b's pc is still on windows 3.1.

	02-09-2003 22:04									#28
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

quote: Originally posted by Asher So if business won't upgrade their wintel boxes every 4-5 years, they won't be in business for long anyway.

You really have no concept of upgrade cycles on computers running industrial-control applications, do you? (But then, most of the high-tech industry doesn't, I reckon) I've come across SCADA applications still running on 386 processors and I'm sure there's older stuff out there yet. If there's no payback to an upgrade on a system like that, it isn't done, period.

The first factory (pulp mill) I worked at had its entire woodroom control package (the interface to the PLCs, that is) running on two 386 PCs (w/o ethernet, as the communication to the PLC was via RS-232, another technology that new computer makers are loathe to support) and the software was already obsolete and the company who made it out of business when I got there (in 1996). It still ran 5 more years before one of the PCs finally died and they had no choice but to upgrade it and invest in a new control package. That was a substantial investment and it didn't make the woodroom run any better (thus no payback), because the underlying PLC system didn't change, it was only the operator interface that had to change.

Scenarios like that are not uncommon in industrial control applications. Floppy drives and serial ports are a must in our line of work.

(EDIT: they might even have been 286's. They'd been in use for about 3-4 years before I got there, what year did 386's hit the market?)

	02-09-2003 22:13									#29
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That's wonderful, but I fail to see how industrial control applications relate to personal computers that we're obviously talking about here.

I have no doubt that many industries don't upgrade all their computers, they use what works. Hence why so many programs are still in COBOL these days. Which is also why you can still get floppy drives and floppies if you want, but it doesn't mean we should be keeping them around still on new machines.

Floppies are just totally obsolete, painfully so. It actually costs more money to make a floppy disk these days than a CD-RW. They're slow, very prone to corruption, expensive to make, and have a very very small capacity.

Eventually they'll get kicked out the door for 99.99% of users, and that has already started. The people with a severe aversion to change here should just get used to that.

	02-09-2003 22:23									#30
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quote: Originally posted by Asher Those of us fortunate enough to not live in the stoneage find them quite obsolete and pity those who must use them.

Wow, and I thought those households in third-world countries with no electricity, immunizations or running water were bad. Do you mean to tell us that some people still rely on a portable storage medium that can only hold 1.44 MB of information? That's terrible.