4 ms·

They were in fact called mini floppies (or, to be correct, "minifloppy") when they were introduced. You just didn't start using them early enough. The term disa

by Tor3 4y ago

They were in fact called mini floppies (or, to be correct, "minifloppy") when they were introduced. You just didn't start using them early enough. The term disappeared relatively early. I'm now looking at an article about Shugart (the floppy drive maker) in the December issue of Byte Magazine, and I quote: "The latest news from Silicon Valley, now confirmed from its source, is the Shugart Associates Minifloppy ["minifloppy" is a Shugart trademark] disk drive for small systems." This is about the new 5 1/4" floppies. I see the term used as late as in the Byte issue about the IBM PC in 1982, and possibly later. It wasn't before the 3.5" floppy arrived that the term completely fell out of use about the 5 1/4" floppy. (Edit: Reworded slightly)

Tor3 4y ago
Eh, December issue for 1976, I don't know how I failed to include the year. (Too late to edit original post)
einr 4y ago
I see the term used as late as in the Byte issue about the IBM PC in 1982, and possibly later. It wasn't before the 3.5" floppy arrived that the term completely fell out of use about the 5 1/4" floppy. It lived on even longer in marketing and packaging. The image below is of a pack of HD 5,25" disks -- judging by the overall design of it I would wager it's from the very late 80s or early 90s. Still Mini Floppy Disks. https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H881c0843bd37476aa487619ee0ad8c79O.jpg https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H881c0843bd37476aa487619ee0ad8c79...
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  Curiously, that box doesn't mention the disk size at all!
  - einr 4y ago
    It would have been fairly obvious from holding it in your hand at the store ;) It does call itself MD2-HD which is the abbreviation for Mini Disk, 2 sided, High Density. Mini disk here means 5.25". 3.5" disks were MF "Micro Floppy", as in MF2-DD or MF2-HD.
michaelcampbell 4y ago
> It wasn't before the 3.5" floppy arrived that the term completely fell out of use about the 5 1/4" floppy. I guess it depends on which audience or circles you ran in. I'll admit to have not gotten into computing until 1981, and then as a teen, but in that time, at that place (US, South), in my audience... literally no one used the term "minifloppy". And by "3.5" floppy arrived..." I'm using the phrase to mean in use by something the consumer might see and be able to buy; not "invented". I had an original 1984 Mac hot off the shelf as soon as it was available, and that's the "arrived" point for me.
- Tor3 4y ago
  In 1984 you would indeed see ads for the Macintosh, with its glorious 3.5" drives. And yes, people in general wouldn't use the term "minifloppy" in normal conversation (except, possibly, old-timers mostly used to "real" floppies, the 8" ones. But even I wouldn't, even though I - just barely - started using computers and floppies before the invention of 5 1/4" drives), you wouldn't say "Please hand me the minifloppy". Just ".. the floppy". You don't use a long term when a short will do. But, as einr said, it lived on for longer in marketing and packaging.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  > I guess it depends on which audience or circles you ran in This matches my experience, too. East Coast USA late 70s and early 80s. We called them disks, diskettes, and floppies. i didn't know anyone with the 8" variety, and 3.5" came later.
  - michaelcampbell 4y ago
    When I started it was all 5 1/4"s, and those were "floppies" to me and my peers. I never used an 8", but I have seen one firsthand. Friend of mine from high school had one as his father had some sort of older machine at home that used them. It looked (to me) comically large.

by Tor3 4y ago

Tor3 4y ago

Eh, December issue for 1976, I don't know how I failed to include the year. (Too late to edit original post)

einr 4y ago

I see the term used as late as in the Byte issue about the IBM PC in 1982, and possibly later. It wasn't before the 3.5" floppy arrived that the term completely fell out of use about the 5 1/4" floppy. It lived on even longer in marketing and packaging. The image below is of a pack of HD 5,25" disks -- judging by the overall design of it I would wager it's from the very late 80s or early 90s. Still Mini Floppy Disks. https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H881c0843bd37476aa487619ee0ad8c79O.jpg https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H881c0843bd37476aa487619ee0ad8c79...

TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
Curiously, that box doesn't mention the disk size at all!
- einr 4y ago
  It would have been fairly obvious from holding it in your hand at the store ;) It does call itself MD2-HD which is the abbreviation for Mini Disk, 2 sided, High Density. Mini disk here means 5.25". 3.5" disks were MF "Micro Floppy", as in MF2-DD or MF2-HD.

michaelcampbell 4y ago

> It wasn't before the 3.5" floppy arrived that the term completely fell out of use about the 5 1/4" floppy. I guess it depends on which audience or circles you ran in. I'll admit to have not gotten into computing until 1981, and then as a teen, but in that time, at that place (US, South), in my audience... literally no one used the term "minifloppy". And by "3.5" floppy arrived..." I'm using the phrase to mean in use by something the consumer might see and be able to buy; not "invented". I had an original 1984 Mac hot off the shelf as soon as it was available, and that's the "arrived" point for me.

Tor3 4y ago
In 1984 you would indeed see ads for the Macintosh, with its glorious 3.5" drives. And yes, people in general wouldn't use the term "minifloppy" in normal conversation (except, possibly, old-timers mostly used to "real" floppies, the 8" ones. But even I wouldn't, even though I - just barely - started using computers and floppies before the invention of 5 1/4" drives), you wouldn't say "Please hand me the minifloppy". Just ".. the floppy". You don't use a long term when a short will do. But, as einr said, it lived on for longer in marketing and packaging.
TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
> I guess it depends on which audience or circles you ran in This matches my experience, too. East Coast USA late 70s and early 80s. We called them disks, diskettes, and floppies. i didn't know anyone with the 8" variety, and 3.5" came later.
- michaelcampbell 4y ago
  When I started it was all 5 1/4"s, and those were "floppies" to me and my peers. I never used an 8", but I have seen one firsthand. Friend of mine from high school had one as his father had some sort of older machine at home that used them. It looked (to me) comically large.