4 ms·

Weren’t they ever bigger than that? I have a vague recollection that it was some sort of 8” oddball format. Maybe even a one-off?

kjellsbells 3y ago
8" was the standard size before 5.25" became the norm. Which happened because of the IBM PC using them as standard.
- dylan604 3y ago
  I learned to edit on a Grass Valley that used the 8" floppies. It was the only real world experience I had with them. The only thing the system wrote to the disc was text based EDLs, and it still took forever. Get a cup of coffee slow. Best of my knowledge, there was never an upgrade for this, and it was still in use when I left in the early 2000s. This was at a time when NLEs were still considered offline quality only, and this system was used to do the final online edit from the tape sources.
- hotpotamus 3y ago
  My first experience seeing an 8" floppy was a professor holding one up so I assumed it was a novelty educational oversized thing. They were ancient back then and it's been awhile since I was in school.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  And just to point out, the logical capacity of those disks increased with each physical reduction. Nearly doubling each time. (The best 8" disks had about 1/2 of the capacity of the worst 5 1/4" one, and the best 5 1/4" disk had about 1/2 of the capacity of the worst 3 1/2" one.) I guess even if IBM didn't put it on the PC, everybody would migrate into 5 1/4" disks on almost the same timeline. Those changes were very compelling back then.
  - NikkiA 3y ago
    The standard 8" floppy by 1980 was 2MB, 5.25" never beat that, and 3.5" only beat that technically, 'ED' 2.88MB, LS120 and SuperDisk were all very rarely used in reality.
    - glimshe 3y ago
      You could use Stacker to get a bit more :-).
- nocoiner 3y ago
  Wow, never knew that! Today I learned.
- DerekL 3y ago
  Even before then, 5.25" was popular among personal computer makers, such as Apple, Radio Shack, Commodore, Atari, and Osborne. (Though the TRS-80 Model II used 8".)
- themadturk 3y ago
  Apple, Commodore, Osborne and others were using 5.25" disks at around or before the IBM PC came into play. IBM used 5.25" drives in the PC because they were inexpensive, reliable commodity hardware, much like the rest of the IMB PC.
DerekL 3y ago
From the subhead of the article: > The Defense Department has transitioned away from a 1970s-era nuclear command and control system that relied on eight-inch floppy disks.

kjellsbells 3y ago

8" was the standard size before 5.25" became the norm. Which happened because of the IBM PC using them as standard.

dylan604 3y ago
I learned to edit on a Grass Valley that used the 8" floppies. It was the only real world experience I had with them. The only thing the system wrote to the disc was text based EDLs, and it still took forever. Get a cup of coffee slow. Best of my knowledge, there was never an upgrade for this, and it was still in use when I left in the early 2000s. This was at a time when NLEs were still considered offline quality only, and this system was used to do the final online edit from the tape sources.
hotpotamus 3y ago
My first experience seeing an 8" floppy was a professor holding one up so I assumed it was a novelty educational oversized thing. They were ancient back then and it's been awhile since I was in school.
marcosdumay 3y ago
And just to point out, the logical capacity of those disks increased with each physical reduction. Nearly doubling each time. (The best 8" disks had about 1/2 of the capacity of the worst 5 1/4" one, and the best 5 1/4" disk had about 1/2 of the capacity of the worst 3 1/2" one.) I guess even if IBM didn't put it on the PC, everybody would migrate into 5 1/4" disks on almost the same timeline. Those changes were very compelling back then.
- NikkiA 3y ago
  The standard 8" floppy by 1980 was 2MB, 5.25" never beat that, and 3.5" only beat that technically, 'ED' 2.88MB, LS120 and SuperDisk were all very rarely used in reality.
  - glimshe 3y ago
    You could use Stacker to get a bit more :-).
nocoiner 3y ago
Wow, never knew that! Today I learned.
DerekL 3y ago
Even before then, 5.25" was popular among personal computer makers, such as Apple, Radio Shack, Commodore, Atari, and Osborne. (Though the TRS-80 Model II used 8".)
themadturk 3y ago
Apple, Commodore, Osborne and others were using 5.25" disks at around or before the IBM PC came into play. IBM used 5.25" drives in the PC because they were inexpensive, reliable commodity hardware, much like the rest of the IMB PC.

DerekL 3y ago

From the subhead of the article: > The Defense Department has transitioned away from a 1970s-era nuclear command and control system that relied on eight-inch floppy disks.