6 ms·

The Mysterious and Strange Origin of the Floppy Disk (2017)

43 points by spking 8y ago

bayareanative 8y ago
Obligatory floppotron music video playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNU8fSoY0vesEhVv1ErMBrhGMr9r464To https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNU8fSoY0vesEhVv1ErMB...
fernly 8y ago
Per the wikipedia entry[1] IBM secured the patent, quote, > The Floppy Disk Drive Patent #3,678,481[11] was issued July 18, 1972 with named inventors Warren L. Dalziel, Jay. B. Nilson, and Donald L. Wartner. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_floppy_disk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_floppy_disk
Gibbon1 8y ago
> It was easy to pirate, twist and damage. And there was a unique, unspeakable dread when you dropped a deck of punch cards—and watched them scatter across the floor completely out of order. Two solutions to that. Better than nothing: Was to draw diagonal lines across the top of the deck of cards with a sharpie. Better: Later cards were given a sequence number and there were machines to check the sequence and also sort. My dad said some of the old computer programmers would 'program' by collating pre punched card sequences.
- kps 8y ago
  > Later cards were given a sequence number Card sorting (and arithmetic operations) predate computers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_record_equipment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_record_equipment > some of the old computer programmers would 'program' by collating pre punched card sequences. This is the origin of the ‘compiler’, which originally was closer to what we now call a linker: it assembled (hah) a program from a library of pre-defined sub-programs.
ChrisArchitect 8y ago
[2017]
- sctb 8y ago
  Thanks! Updated.
checkyoursudo 8y ago
I was at a computer/parts shop yesterday, and I asked about a floppy disk reader. They sell a usb one. I have a handful of floppies remaining. I am sure I haven't looked at the contents in 15 years or more. I feel like checking them out, just in case of something interesting. The shop, by chance, didn't have any in stock. I don't know if I'll get one. If I haven't needed whatever is on them in this long, then maybe I don't really need it. But I am still curious.
- Stratoscope 8y ago
  If you're near Menlo Park, CA, you can borrow mine. I have one "just in case" but never use it. :-)
  - checkyoursudo 8y ago
    Thanks for the offer, but I appear to be about 35 hours away by car at the moment. :) Nearly moved to Foster City about a year ago though! Missed opportunity to borrow yours, I guess. Maybe another time. If you're anywhere near northern Sweden in the next few years then be sure to bring it with you, just in case.
    - Stratoscope 8y ago
      I will do that! :-)
    - tim333 8y ago
      there's ebay of course https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xfloppy+drive+usb.TRS0&_nkw=floppy+drive+usb&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=floppy+drive https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m...
numakerg 8y ago
Off-topic, but I wonder if there's a name for this kind of marketing, where a company will write useful and/or interesting articles that end up in search results or content aggregators. I don't know if it's more effective than traditional advertising, but it's certainly more pleasant.
- arkades 8y ago
  Content marketing.
- timcederman 8y ago
  Priceonomics turned it into their primary business.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Content marketing is the general term.
- floren 8y ago
  It can go both ways, given that the poorly-proofread copy rather turned me off.
  - keanebean86 8y ago
    Im glad you don't read my stuff then! No matter how many times I proofread a something there's always speling errors and random extra words.
mrob 8y ago
"At age 20, he attempted to shrink the size of a phonograph record and eliminate the scratchy quality of the sound. Two years later, he completed the project at Tokyo Imperial University’s Engineering School. The drive could be read with magnetic and light sensors, and he received a Japanese patent for the disk invention in 1952. No matter how you look at it, that’s the definition of digitizing analog technology." Sounds like it's still analog, like a Laserdisc.
- Animats 8y ago
  That seems more like some of the early systems for movie sound recording. There's a whole history of clunky synchronized movie sound systems going back to 1918 or so. Optical tracks on film, synchronized disks, magnetic strips on photographic film, sprocket-fed film with a magnetic coat. The movie people needed to edit audio, which involved lots of cutting and pasting and specialized machinery. IBM also had something called the Magnebelt, an endless belt of tape 4 inches wide used in dictating machines.
MaupitiBlue 8y ago
The article led to some surfing and a revelation ... I didn’t know the old Bernoulli Box was made by Iomega.

43 points by spking 8y ago

Obligatory floppotron music video playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNU8fSoY0vesEhVv1ErMBrhGMr9r464To https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNU8fSoY0vesEhVv1ErMB...

fernly 8y ago

Per the wikipedia entry[1] IBM secured the patent, quote, > The Floppy Disk Drive Patent #3,678,481[11] was issued July 18, 1972 with named inventors Warren L. Dalziel, Jay. B. Nilson, and Donald L. Wartner. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_floppy_disk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_floppy_disk

Gibbon1 8y ago

> It was easy to pirate, twist and damage. And there was a unique, unspeakable dread when you dropped a deck of punch cards—and watched them scatter across the floor completely out of order. Two solutions to that. Better than nothing: Was to draw diagonal lines across the top of the deck of cards with a sharpie. Better: Later cards were given a sequence number and there were machines to check the sequence and also sort. My dad said some of the old computer programmers would 'program' by collating pre punched card sequences.

kps 8y ago
> Later cards were given a sequence number Card sorting (and arithmetic operations) predate computers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_record_equipment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_record_equipment > some of the old computer programmers would 'program' by collating pre punched card sequences. This is the origin of the ‘compiler’, which originally was closer to what we now call a linker: it assembled (hah) a program from a library of pre-defined sub-programs.

ChrisArchitect 8y ago

[2017]

sctb 8y ago
Thanks! Updated.

checkyoursudo 8y ago

I was at a computer/parts shop yesterday, and I asked about a floppy disk reader. They sell a usb one. I have a handful of floppies remaining. I am sure I haven't looked at the contents in 15 years or more. I feel like checking them out, just in case of something interesting. The shop, by chance, didn't have any in stock. I don't know if I'll get one. If I haven't needed whatever is on them in this long, then maybe I don't really need it. But I am still curious.

Stratoscope 8y ago
If you're near Menlo Park, CA, you can borrow mine. I have one "just in case" but never use it. :-)
- checkyoursudo 8y ago
  Thanks for the offer, but I appear to be about 35 hours away by car at the moment. :) Nearly moved to Foster City about a year ago though! Missed opportunity to borrow yours, I guess. Maybe another time. If you're anywhere near northern Sweden in the next few years then be sure to bring it with you, just in case.
  - Stratoscope 8y ago
    I will do that! :-)
  - tim333 8y ago
    there's ebay of course https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xfloppy+drive+usb.TRS0&_nkw=floppy+drive+usb&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=floppy+drive https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m...

numakerg 8y ago

Off-topic, but I wonder if there's a name for this kind of marketing, where a company will write useful and/or interesting articles that end up in search results or content aggregators. I don't know if it's more effective than traditional advertising, but it's certainly more pleasant.

arkades 8y ago
Content marketing.
timcederman 8y ago
Priceonomics turned it into their primary business.
ghaff 8y ago
Content marketing is the general term.
floren 8y ago
It can go both ways, given that the poorly-proofread copy rather turned me off.
- keanebean86 8y ago
  Im glad you don't read my stuff then! No matter how many times I proofread a something there's always speling errors and random extra words.

mrob 8y ago

"At age 20, he attempted to shrink the size of a phonograph record and eliminate the scratchy quality of the sound. Two years later, he completed the project at Tokyo Imperial University’s Engineering School. The drive could be read with magnetic and light sensors, and he received a Japanese patent for the disk invention in 1952. No matter how you look at it, that’s the definition of digitizing analog technology." Sounds like it's still analog, like a Laserdisc.

Animats 8y ago
That seems more like some of the early systems for movie sound recording. There's a whole history of clunky synchronized movie sound systems going back to 1918 or so. Optical tracks on film, synchronized disks, magnetic strips on photographic film, sprocket-fed film with a magnetic coat. The movie people needed to edit audio, which involved lots of cutting and pasting and specialized machinery. IBM also had something called the Magnebelt, an endless belt of tape 4 inches wide used in dictating machines.

MaupitiBlue 8y ago

The article led to some surfing and a revelation ... I didn’t know the old Bernoulli Box was made by Iomega.