////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// date: Sat 23 Dec 2023 06:44:43 PM PST // subj: my favorite storage medium, 3.5 inch floppy disc // auth: bbsing // ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ?? DO YOU LIKE 3.5 FLOPPY DISKETTES ?? ____________________ | |""""""""""""""""| | |.|_D O O M________|H| | |________________| | | |________________| | | |________________| | | |________________| | | |________________| | | | | ____________ | | | | _ | | | | | | | | | | | | |_| | V | mga |___|___|________|___| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ^ ^ ^ My favorite storage medium for the computer is the 3.5 inch floppy ^ ^ disk. Its really one of the coolest forms of media. ^ ^ ^ ^ 5 1/4 inch floppy isn't bad, but the durability isn't the same ^ ^ as those cool little 3 1/2 inch floppy drive cases. ^ ^ ^ ^ The loud click and slide the drive makes as it engages to the ^ ^ disk and opens the dust protector. Then the whirling and humming ^ ^ noise it makes as the computer locates the sector for reading or ^ ^ writing to. Its all there, and there is this thing that is ^ ^ happening. ^ ^ ^ ^ I think one of the reasons for which I find 3.5 floppy medium so neat ^ ^ is how easy it was to trade and transport information. The disk ^ ^ itself fits nicely into a shirt pocket. There used to be floppy ^ ^ envelopes for mail transport with a circle over a magnet. ^ ^ ^ ^ The ubiquity of the drive itself was awesome. Almost all ^ ^ computers had at least one 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. My 386sx ^ ^ had a 5.25 inch and a 3.5 inch flpy, but from about 1990 into the ^ ^ late 2000's systems had that 3.5 inch floppy drive. ^ ^ ^ ^ AOL used to send in the mail their AOL program on a floppy. ^ ^ It would appear enough that I rarely had to buy a new floppy ^ ^ disk. There were so many of them and people who really were not ^ ^ warez traders usually were ready to discard those extra AOL ^ ^ floppy discs. ^ ^ ^ ^ ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ^ ^ DOOM on floppy: // ^ ^ --------------------------------------------------------------------- ^ ^ ^ ^ Long ago when the video game doom came out, it started as ^ ^ shareware. So a portion of the game was free. Basically the ^ ^ first episode of the entire game. The game was a really hot item ^ ^ at the time, and the local BBSes phone lines were usually tied ^ ^ up with downloaders. Downloading was not so easy back then. ^ ^ With our modem connected to a phone line, at any moment the ^ ^ connection was susceptible to interruption by a family member ^ ^ picking the phone handset while the ZMODEM transfer was in ^ ^ progress. Back in the day BBS systems used a time bank type ^ ^ system so a single user couldn't dominate a phone line into the ^ ^ BBS. So each call into a BBS had a set number of minutes and if ^ ^ a specific file or batch of files calculated to exceed your ^ ^ allotted time for the day, it was impossible to download the ^ ^ file[s], unless you were had some saved time in the BBS time ^ ^ bank. Some BBSes also used download to upload ratios that might ^ ^ have also prevented a user from downloading more files. My ^ ^ brother and I did way more downloading than uploaded, so usually ^ ^ we didn't not have a favorable ratio. These issues were causing ^ ^ my brother and I problem.... mainly we were not able to obtain ^ ^ the game. ^ ^ ^ ^ Luckly I had a drivers license, and with parents car-keys in ^ ^ hand and floppy diskettes in pocket my brother and I set out to ^ ^ a local computer store hoping doom would be there to demo the ^ ^ performance of the computers for sale. We found a store ^ ^ showcasing their systems with doom's demo mode. We arrived with ^ ^ a few floppy disks, I asked a sales associated if we could copy ^ ^ the doom game. Since it was shareware, we were given the go ^ ^ ahead. I slid the 3.5 floppy into the computer B: drive, exited ^ ^ the game, entered the DOS prompt and proceeded to copy doom onto ^ ^ the floppy. That night by brother and I had a blast in a new 3D ^ ^ virtual world. I still have those floppy discs with doom on them ^ ^ to this day. ^ ^ ^ ^ Just about every IBM compatible system had a 3.5 inch floppy at ^ ^ the time, and this proceeded to be the case for years. The ^ ^ security of the disk and drive was minimal. It made for a very ^ ^ easy transport tool to share information. The disk medium itself ^ ^ was guaranteed for life, usually. I have yet to see a true ^ ^ failure of the medium. I'm sure others have stories about it, ^ ^ but I haven't seen a well cared for 3.5 floppy drive fail. ^ ^ Compared to CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, the floppy failure rate is far less. ^ ^ This very document is stored on a floppy disk that is from the ^ ^ early to mid 1990's. ^ ^ ^ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=