Back to home page

DOS ain't dead

Forum index page

Log in | Register

Search:  
Back to the forum
Board view  Mix view

FYI: DEATH (again, after cca 30 years) (Announce)

posted by Arjay, 08.05.2010, 13:55
(edited by Arjay on 08.05.2010, 14:38)

> I saw this mentioned on OS News. According to someone there, some
> companies still sell floppies. I don't know if they're still produced,
> though.
 I don't doubt there are still tons of drives and disks in large warehouses, so to be honest I don't think supply will be a problem for a few years. The downside will be the fact we are now entering a sellers market. Indeed have you noticed that disks have already been going up in price anyway? Not sure I ever wish to start paying prices like 10GBP per box again though - thank you very much it was bad enough the first time around !!

Sadly I remember this with 5 1/4" drives (one of my first PC upgrades was to swap my 5 1/4" drive A: drive with a 3 1/2" drive!). Even more sad is the fact that I still own several 5 1/4" drives including FULL height (2 drive bay) versions. Recently I saw a 8" drive in regular business use as well! I don't doubt a 20" drive is still in regular use somewhere... sadly I haven't seen one since about 1992 though !

Still it always amuses me (this is particularly true in the west) when some "expert" stands up and says things like "I predict XYZ technology will be completely dead within the next year", e.g "Fax machines are dead" completely forgetting that they only live in a small part of the much bigger world. Which is why there are still companies offering services such as email to telex conversions ! So what's next? DOS is going to be completely dead? :-)


> Ironically, the brand of my (bought a year or so ago) double-speed USB
> floppy drive was Sony.
USB drives are ok, I brought one ages ago and then was given a brand new sealed one for free but personally I still prefer proper IDE drives as more reliable.

> Also, I grabbed a Sony Mavicon at a charity garage sale just because
> it used a 3.5" floppy (haven't tried it, didn't come with battery,
FYI, many older laptop battery packs are made up of rechargeable AA batteries wired together inside a nice case. So if you know the input voltages etc.

> may not even work even then, I just thought it was funny ...
 Probably it will be fine. I have an old dual 720k drive 8086 laptop which works fine off 12volts. Amusingly it is actually very light weight as it didn't come with a hard disk. MDA also ;-) Yet still powerful enough to run my home automation software. Ran the latest FreeDOS also last time I tried :)

[EDIT] Just realized/remembered you probably meant the Sony Mavica as in digital camera. From memory (haven't used one since about 2001) they could be powered via USB. The ones I used to use belonged to work at the time, I always wanted one myself though. Generated JPG's and AVI's I think - a good camera in its day.

> besides, $10 ain't much for charity anyways).
 :) You are not alone. My last box of sealed disks came with a embedded DOS device from a charity shop a few months ago :) I wanted the DOS device but finding a box of sealed disks inside the box was a bonus.

> The main problem with migrating to other hardware is having to buy it
> (minor), having the computer that's compatible with it (medium), and
> having an OS that supports it (major issue, and good luck with that if it
> isn't Win, Lin, or Mac ... very annoying!).
 Well don't forget IDE is a long established interface. So if you have an IDE connector on something you will be able to plug things into it for years.

Yes, I still use floppies with some kit but to be honest with you I have been switching more and more to using IDE/USB alternatives as much as possible.

Post reply
 

Complete thread:

Back to the forum
Board view  Mix view
22780 Postings in 2123 Threads, 402 registered users (0 online)
DOS ain't dead | Admin contact
RSS Feed
powered by my little forum