5 ms·
Incredible. I can imagine that in 1996 there was some sort of utility for such a device; for it to remain so until 2006 or so is quite something!
by lnx01 9y ago
Incredible. I can imagine that in 1996 there was some sort of utility for such a device; for it to remain so until 2006 or so is quite something!
- digi_owl 9y agoHow it is in the corporate world. Anything bought is expected to be in use for decades and decades. Something i feel the FOSS world really need to internalize rather than think that bling is what will bring the users.
- Boothroid 9y agoNot always true. I think most places start to get nervous when their hardware is out of support.
- digi_owl 9y agoKinda. I ran into a company selling floppy drive emulators some years ago. Their main market were computerized looms and such. Basically an automatic loom with a desktop PC bolted to it. We are talking 286 or even older generation CPUs and such. What these emulators did was take some sort of input in the front (be it from floppy images stored on USB, a serial cable, or even wired or wireless networks on their newest models), and pretend to be a floppy in the back. Basically they were embedded computers that could fit in a 5.25 bay. Similarly you will find old DOS installs running experiments in university labs the world over, because the sensors software etc only properly work when it has direct access to the serial port hardware or some such. It is a crazy world out there once you get out of the valley.
- Boothroid 9y agoSure, ok, but I've worked in companies large and small that are ruthless about their hardware landscape, and this wasn't tech or SV.