3 ms·

QNX, Floppix (2 diskettes)[0], MenuetOS[1], and Kolibri[2] were all very exciting to me in the early '00s. Eventually I got a USB drive (128MB!) and more or les

QNX, Floppix (2 diskettes)[0], MenuetOS[1], and Kolibri[2] were all very exciting to me in the early '00s. Eventually I got a USB drive (128MB!) and more or less gave up on the floppy life, but I do still appreciate the idea of running froim a floppy. [0] https://www.floppix.com/ https://www.floppix.com/ [1] http://menuetos.net/ http://menuetos.net/ [2] http://www.kolibrios.org/en/ http://www.kolibrios.org/en/

tcbawo 5y ago
I understand the appeal of radical portability that a floppy-based OS gives you, but the fragility of floppy disk media is something I don't miss!
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > I understand the appeal of radical portability that a floppy-based OS gives you, but the fragility of floppy disk media is something I don't miss! I also like the idea that the media doesn't contain a computer that could be programmed to do something nefarious that you don't expect. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/heres-a-list-of-29-different-types-of-usb-attacks/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/heres-a-list-...
  - DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
    > I also like the idea that the media doesn't contain a computer that could be programmed to do something nefarious that you don't expect. It's entirely possible for a floppy-disk to be an attack-vector. After all, viruses were a thing in DOS days and they spread via floppy disks: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/boot-sector-virus https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/boot... But a modern Trojan-horse style computer-hidden-inside-an-innocuous-looking-peripheral in a floppy disk should be possible, considering what Sony fit into a floppy-disk's dimensions back in 2000: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95 http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95
    - tablespoon 5y ago
      >> I also like the idea that the media doesn't contain a computer that could be programmed to do something nefarious that you don't expect. > It's entirely possible for a floppy-disk to be an attack-vector. Yeah, but media with embedded computers adds more vectors on top of those that exist in dumb media. I'm not claiming that dumb media is absolutely secure, just that it has fewer attack vectors. > But a modern Trojan-horse style computer-hidden-inside-an-innocuous-looking-peripheral in a floppy disk should be possible, considering what Sony fit into a floppy-disk's dimensions back in 2000: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95 http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95 That's a novelty, though. I've never seen one of those, but that particular example could never be confused for a regular floppy disk, and I'm skeptical that a similar device that could be confused would even be possible to build. Floppies are super light. To sneak a CPU into one would require power (which would not be provided directly by the drive), storage electronics, and something to interface magnetically with the heads. I think all that (especially the power and interface) would likely be noticeably heavier. I've had something might had some of the components (https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/01/coin-shutdown-services-february-28/ https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/01/coin-shutdown-services-...), but I doubt the magnetic interface was sufficient for a trojan floppy. But even if you could get the weight and balance right, inspecting whatever under the shutter would be a dead giveaway. And transparent floppies were a thing (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transparent_floppy_disk.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transparent_floppy_d...) and using those would make it even harder to sneak electronics on board.
      - eichin 5y ago
        So... how would you get anything into the system that way that you couldn't get in via an actually recorded floppy? You're still waving analog magnetic fields in front of the read head, it's not like usb or firewire where you have inappropriate levels of access to the system bus...
        bluGill 5y ago
        Put a generator on the hub to get power from. Then a readwrite head instead of media. The head is the hard part, you need to make it thin. It should be possible, but I don't have the electronics to attempt it. Nor do I have the time.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  > fragility of floppy disk 1.44 MB “floppies” were encased in hard plastic and not fragile
gattilorenz 5y ago
I recently tried to boot again muLinux, I still think it's kinda impressive! http://micheleandreoli.org/public/Software/mulinux/ http://micheleandreoli.org/public/Software/mulinux/

tcbawo 5y ago

I understand the appeal of radical portability that a floppy-based OS gives you, but the fragility of floppy disk media is something I don't miss!

tablespoon 5y ago
> I understand the appeal of radical portability that a floppy-based OS gives you, but the fragility of floppy disk media is something I don't miss! I also like the idea that the media doesn't contain a computer that could be programmed to do something nefarious that you don't expect. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/heres-a-list-of-29-different-types-of-usb-attacks/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/heres-a-list-...
- DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
  > I also like the idea that the media doesn't contain a computer that could be programmed to do something nefarious that you don't expect. It's entirely possible for a floppy-disk to be an attack-vector. After all, viruses were a thing in DOS days and they spread via floppy disks: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/boot-sector-virus https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/boot... But a modern Trojan-horse style computer-hidden-inside-an-innocuous-looking-peripheral in a floppy disk should be possible, considering what Sony fit into a floppy-disk's dimensions back in 2000: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95 http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95
  - tablespoon 5y ago
    >> I also like the idea that the media doesn't contain a computer that could be programmed to do something nefarious that you don't expect. > It's entirely possible for a floppy-disk to be an attack-vector. Yeah, but media with embedded computers adds more vectors on top of those that exist in dumb media. I'm not claiming that dumb media is absolutely secure, just that it has fewer attack vectors. > But a modern Trojan-horse style computer-hidden-inside-an-innocuous-looking-peripheral in a floppy disk should be possible, considering what Sony fit into a floppy-disk's dimensions back in 2000: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95 http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sony_Mavica_FD95 That's a novelty, though. I've never seen one of those, but that particular example could never be confused for a regular floppy disk, and I'm skeptical that a similar device that could be confused would even be possible to build. Floppies are super light. To sneak a CPU into one would require power (which would not be provided directly by the drive), storage electronics, and something to interface magnetically with the heads. I think all that (especially the power and interface) would likely be noticeably heavier. I've had something might had some of the components (https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/01/coin-shutdown-services-february-28/ https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/01/coin-shutdown-services-...), but I doubt the magnetic interface was sufficient for a trojan floppy. But even if you could get the weight and balance right, inspecting whatever under the shutter would be a dead giveaway. And transparent floppies were a thing (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transparent_floppy_disk.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transparent_floppy_d...) and using those would make it even harder to sneak electronics on board.
    - eichin 5y ago
      So... how would you get anything into the system that way that you couldn't get in via an actually recorded floppy? You're still waving analog magnetic fields in front of the read head, it's not like usb or firewire where you have inappropriate levels of access to the system bus...
      - bluGill 5y ago
        Put a generator on the hub to get power from. Then a readwrite head instead of media. The head is the hard part, you need to make it thin. It should be possible, but I don't have the electronics to attempt it. Nor do I have the time.
TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
> fragility of floppy disk 1.44 MB “floppies” were encased in hard plastic and not fragile

gattilorenz 5y ago

I recently tried to boot again muLinux, I still think it's kinda impressive! http://micheleandreoli.org/public/Software/mulinux/ http://micheleandreoli.org/public/Software/mulinux/