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The term "disc" for storage predates optical media. "Disc" was the common spelling for a disk (like a floppy disk) on British 8-bit computers like Amstrad CPC o
by sedatk 8mo ago
The term "disc" for storage predates optical media. "Disc" was the common spelling for a disk (like a floppy disk) on British 8-bit computers like Amstrad CPC or Sinclair Spectrum.[1][2]
It seems like the distinction simply comes from British and American preferences.[3]
I have no idea how Apple jumped to such an arbitrary conclusion.
[1] Kempston Disc Interface manual: https://k1.spdns.de/Vintage/Sinclair/82/Peripherals/Disc%20Interfaces/Kempston%20Disc%20Interface/Kempston%20Disc%20Interface%20Manual.pdf https://k1.spdns.de/Vintage/Sinclair/82/Peripherals/Disc%20I...
[2] Amstrad Disc Drive Interface manual: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/3/3f/DDI-1_User_Manual.pdf https://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/3/3f/DDI-1_User_Manual.pdf
[3] Etymonline entry for "disk": https://www.etymonline.com/word/disk https://www.etymonline.com/word/disk
- Doctor_Fegg 8mo agoDisk was already the standard spelling in the UK by 1984 (in a computing context), just as program was used in preference to programme. But Amstrad mistyped it as disc on the plastic mouldings for their first CPC, and were too cheap to change them. Consequently CPC 3in disks were always called discs even into the 90s.
- sedatk 8mo agoDid Acorn also misspell it in BBC Micro manual in 1984? https://archive.org/details/BBCUG/page/n19/mode/2up?q=disc https://archive.org/details/BBCUG/page/n19/mode/2up?q=disc
- DemocracyFTW2 8mo agoThat's "Akorn" and "BBC Mikro"
- prewett 8mo ago[flagged]
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- rasz 8mo agoBig commodore Kernal vibes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KERNAL#The_name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KERNAL#The_name