Old fashioned?

[hema]

Following up the discussion in another post on this board (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17907)

Call me old-fashioned, but I still use pen and paper, even though it is uotdated technology.

I'd like to share the latest piece of technology with you:

• Hello, welcome to a new episode of Amazing Discoveries. My name is Mike and today we have a special guest: John. Welcome John!
• Thanks Mike.
• What have you brought to us, John?
• Now, Mike, I have something very special. Something, the whole world has been waiting for.
• Unbelievable, tell us quickly what it is…
• I have here a white squared material and a stick. You may well ask: “What is it?
• Yes, we are very excited, John.
• Now, Mike, if I move this stick on the white stuff, then the color changes exactly in those places, where the stick has touched the white stuff.
• This is unbelievable….
• But that's not all, Mike. If I use the stick to draw a letter, like you usually see on computer screens…
• Unbelievable, I start to understand. So, if you draw more letters next to each other, then one can even read, without the need for a screen.
• This is indeed the case, Mike, you got it! The material is called ‘paper’ the stick is called ‘pencil’
• Unbelievable. This is an Amazing Discovery… And it does not need electricity?
• No, no, Mike, fantastic, isn’t it? You do not even need batteries.
• Wow, that's incredible. Hey, John, you have folded it. I can do this with my notebook as well.
• No Mike, This is different, you can fold it as often as you want, until it has reached the desired size.
• Hey, you don’t stop folding and it is getting smaller and smaller. Now it fits into my wallet. This is unbelievable! Now I can always carry with me. Can I touch it?
• But of course, Mike.
• This is unbelievable, John, It has almost no weight!
• That's right, Mike. It is 100 times lighter than the smallest notebook.
• No battery, 100 times lighter! Unbelievable, I must be dreaming!
• No, no, Mike, you're not dreaming. But look, I unfold it again and…
• But John, what are you doing??? You tear the paper apart!
• This material is so fantastic, Mike. Look, I put the two parts next to each other and you can still read it.
• Unbelievable, one should try this with a floppy disk!
• But what are you doing now? No, don’t do it!!! Don’t step on it!
• No panic, Mike, Look…
• Unbelievable, and you can still read it! Imagine if you would step on your notebook…
• Unbelievable, what a discovery! But tell me, John, how long can you keep the paper?
• Well, much longer than a floppy disk or hard drive, their magnetic properties decrease in the long run.
• Unbelievable…
• But that's not all!
• No?
• You can take it anywhere. You can use it at high and low temperatures. And if you don’t need it any longer, you can still use it as toilet paper…., You know what I mean, Mike.
• John, unbelievable… Tell me, does that mean, that one day we do not need computers and notebooks anymore? Wow, John, I’m fully convinced!

Well, now I have to go back to my chart recorder to cut and weight out peaks....

[Consumer Products Guy]

[Peter Apps]

There is a very serious downside to the use of electronic data - archives are only accessible as long as the technology to read them still exists. Does anyone still have a computer that reads 4.5 inch floppy discs ?

Peter

[CE Instruments]

4.5" I only remember 3.5" and 5.25" I have drives to read either that I can attach to my PC (assuming they have not failed in storage)
Rule 1 with digital media , back up , then back up then back up, checking they still reload ok each time too.
Why do we always forget though

[krickos]

There is a very serious downside to the use of electronic data - archives are only accessible as long as the technology to read them still exists. Does anyone still have a computer that reads 4.5 inch floppy discs ?

Peter

Sadly not, did something I regret in late 90s when moving, tossed a 5 1/4 equipped "portable" (10-15kg) PC. Had an inbuild thermoprinter as well beside the small monitor. Was a Nixdorf computer PC (possibly done together with a Japanese company).
Besides doing some basic turbo pascal programming in senior high in mid 80s I played "Ancient Art of War" on it.

[Consumer Products Guy]

There is a very serious downside to the use of electronic data - archives are only accessible as long as the technology to read them still exists. Does anyone still have a computer that reads 4.5 inch floppy discs ?

Peter

I'm also assuming you mean 3.5 inch floppies. Well, I'm the guy with the "repaired" calculator, and our lab must have at least a 12-15 computers (HPLC, GC, GCMS, UV-visible, FTIR) that have 3.5 inch drives. Some of those still use Windows 95 or NT4 so USB flash drives cannot work there. In my office, I have a 3.5 inch floppy drive that plugs into USB. My home Dell also has 3.5 inch drive, I paid $15 extra for that (and of course, that was the thing defective when it arrived).

[Peter Apps]

Always double check your measurements - and do as I tell you not as I do !!

I was thinking of the 5 1/4 inch floppy discs - the 3.5 inch discs were stiffy discs - on account of them being stiffer than the floppy ones - the computer that I am typing on does not have ports for either of them.

Peter

[chromatographer1]

Anyone have any 8 inch floppy drives from IBM ? They held an amazing 1 Megabyte of data.

I still miss my portable 28lb Osborne dual 3.5 inch single sided drives with the 4 inch monitor.

Oh the days gone by !

Rod