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Stick Insect
Oct 24, 2010

My enemies are many.

My equals are none.

Geoj posted:

There was a definite dropoff after 2005 in the "quality" of floppies being sold.

I also noticed they started getting advertised as "2.0 MB*" at some point.

OS/2 warp's install diskettes had 2.0MB on them, but that may have been an illusion for the sake of copy protection.

* 1.44 MB after formatting

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Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
Elephant 5 1/4" floppies actually shed their magnetic coating after about a month. At my lab in the late 70s we used to say 'Elephants always forget'. Don't judge us. We had no sense of humor.

Computer viking
May 30, 2011
Now with less breakage.

Stick Insect posted:

I also noticed they started getting advertised as "2.0 MB*" at some point.

OS/2 warp's install diskettes had 2.0MB on them, but that may have been an illusion for the sake of copy protection.

* 1.44 MB after formatting

Nah, they genuinely held more data.

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



They were still 1.44MB formatted under MS DOS.

ElwoodCuse
Jan 11, 2004

we're puttin' the band back together
The floppy sucked after AOL stopped coming on them and you couldn't just reformat and use those for whatever

DigitalRaven
Oct 9, 2012




ElwoodCuse posted:

The floppy sucked after AOL stopped coming on them and you couldn't just reformat and use those for whatever

But with an AOL CD, a Leatherman (or other multitool), a steady hand, and a laser pointer, you can perform the double-split experiment, proving wave-particle duality.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Funnily, a lot of promotional floppies were better quality than the blank floppies you could buy.

Computer viking
May 30, 2011
Now with less breakage.

Flipperwaldt posted:

They were still 1.44MB formatted under MS DOS.

Oh, sure. They did genuinely hold more than that when formatted as install disks, though - and there were dos tools and drivers that let you squeeze up towards 2MB onto floppies, too. (I believe the Amiga people routinely did the same.)

Vanagoon
Jan 20, 2008


Best Dead Gay Forums
on the whole Internet!
Distribution Media Format:

quote:

Distribution Media Format (DMF) is a format for floppy disks that Microsoft used to distribute software.[1][2] It allowed the disk to contain 1680 kB of data on a 3½-inch disk, instead of the standard 1440 kB.

If you ever installed Windows95 from floppies, this is what you were using, I think

Stick Insect
Oct 24, 2010

My enemies are many.

My equals are none.
I had an extensive sneakernet going with diskettes... One PC writing, the other reading and me running up and down the stairs between the two. The Win 95 computer was slightly faster at moving 1.44 mb. As long as it was a single file, loads of tiny small files would take forever due to needing to do extra FAT writes.

I also used PC-Tools for DOS to format the diskettes. It would be fast because it moved at a consistent speed. Formatting in DOS or Windows would begin nice and fast, and then slow down as it got closer to 100%, and take longer on the whole.

The_Franz
Aug 8, 2003

Flipperwaldt posted:

They were still 1.44MB formatted under MS DOS.

I remember getting a special formatting program from somewhere (fdformat I think?) that let you format floppies beyond 1.44 megs on DOS and it seemed awesome at the time.

Last Chance
Dec 31, 2004

Do people still use ram disks?

Gromit
Aug 15, 2000

I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!
Available for purchase on Steam, no less.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/337070/

Karasu Tengu
Feb 16, 2011

Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter

Last Chance posted:

Do people still use ram disks?

Yes, but with SSD's being way cheaper than ram there's no loving reason to do it.

SLOSifl
Aug 10, 2002


Windows 95 did this too. I know this because I had to span ZIP files over two 1.44s to get the installation from my parent's fancy computer with a CD drive to my 25MHz AST Flyer with only a floppy drive.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Elliotw2 posted:

Yes, but with SSD's being way cheaper than ram there's no loving reason to do it.
Not ramdisk per se, but distributed ram caches are definitely used for high performance computing.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Last Chance posted:

Do people still use ram disks?

I have 16GB of RAM, with up to 10GB of it allocated as scratch space if needed. It's pretty cool for working on stuff with lots of tiny write actions, and it saves wear on my SSD.

Linux makes it very easy with tmpfs.

I also have my browser profile and cache directories in RAM, for those same reasons.

Konstantin
Jun 20, 2005
And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
The Classic Mac OS actually had the ability to boot from a RAM Disk, although I'm not sure why you would want to. I guess if you absolutely needed to conserve battery life at all costs it could come in handy.

blugu64
Jul 17, 2006

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Konstantin posted:

The Classic Mac OS actually had the ability to boot from a RAM Disk, although I'm not sure why you would want to. I guess if you absolutely needed to conserve battery life at all costs it could come in handy.

Yep, I had an old duo that I'd copy a barebones system software and a few applications over to the RAM disk, and then spin down the hard drive for awesome battery life.

A FUCKIN CANARY!!
Nov 9, 2005


I use a RAM disk in combination with Fraps, which is still too retarded to just keep a 60 second loop buffer in memory on its own instead of writing to disk nonstop.

Last Chance
Dec 31, 2004

KozmoNaut posted:

I have 16GB of RAM, with up to 10GB of it allocated as scratch space if needed. It's pretty cool for working on stuff with lots of tiny write actions, and it saves wear on my SSD.

Linux makes it very easy with tmpfs.

I also have my browser profile and cache directories in RAM, for those same reasons.

That's pretty cool.

cyberia
Jun 24, 2011

Do not call me that!
Snuffles was my slave name.
You shall now call me Snowball; because my fur is pretty and white.
I saw this book at the local goodwill the other day:





The internet was a very different beast 20 years ago.

Zaphod42
Sep 13, 2012

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

cyberia posted:

I saw this book at the local goodwill the other day:





The internet was a very different beast 20 years ago.

I remember using Dogpile to search like 10 different search engines at the same time. Altavista, askjeeves, Yahoo, jeeze that feels like a lifetime ago.

Google has delivered us all.

Basticle
Sep 12, 2011


I still have an email address on excite.com that I check once a year when i remember i have it

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

Basticle posted:

I still have an email address on excite.com that I check once a year when i remember i have it

I recently discovered my old AOL address from 1995 (that I stopped using in 2001) is still active.

So much spam....

Nckdictator
Sep 8, 2006
Just..someone

cyberia posted:

I saw this book at the local goodwill the other day:





The internet was a very different beast 20 years ago.

Someone see if the author's email still works.

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

Nckdictator posted:

Someone see if the author's email still works.

I just did.

Dr Jankenstein
Aug 6, 2009

Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers.

Mister Kingdom posted:

I recently discovered my old AOL address from 1995 (that I stopped using in 2001) is still active.

So much spam....

I know someone that still uses AOL. Like honest to goodness "you've got mail" searches with keywords, AOL.

They're only 40. They're a loving Gen-X'er, they grew up with this poo poo!

The worst thing is they're so close to being technologically relevant, but still so far. Like, they get the whole "internet = :filez: thing, but at the same time, they still use loving Kazaa.

Kazaa.

blugu64
Jul 17, 2006

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Zaphod42 posted:

I remember using Dogpile to search like 10 different search engines at the same time. Altavista, askjeeves, Yahoo, jeeze that feels like a lifetime ago.

Google has delivered us all.

They brought goto.com back :)

Humphreys
Jan 26, 2013

We conceived a way to use my mother as a porn mule


poo poo, that internet book reminded me that I used to buy MAZAGINES that were essentially internet directories. A monthly installment based Yellow Pages if you will.

Megillah Gorilla
Sep 22, 2003

If only all of life's problems could be solved by smoking a professor of ancient evil texts.



Bread Liar
Oh god, I had completely forgotten all about those. But how else were you supposed to find out about cool or useful sites?

I even remember the really old computer magazines, before the internet even became a thing, which had twenty or so pages at the back of each edition filled with code you could type out yourself, line by line, into your computer for games and poo poo.

And you'd always gently caress up somewhere with a comma instead of a period or just a wrong line call and getting anything good to work took about a week of endlessly peering back and forth between the magazine and your screen trying to find where you hosed up.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
Internet Underground magazine was my go to for a long time. I also remember reading Byte and Popular Computing back in the mid 70s.

Kirk Vikernes
Apr 26, 2004

Count Goatnackh

Gorilla Salad posted:

Oh god, I had completely forgotten all about those. But how else were you supposed to find out about cool or useful sites?

I even remember the really old computer magazines, before the internet even became a thing, which had twenty or so pages at the back of each edition filled with code you could type out yourself, line by line, into your computer for games and poo poo.

And you'd always gently caress up somewhere with a comma instead of a period or just a wrong line call and getting anything good to work took about a week of endlessly peering back and forth between the magazine and your screen trying to find where you hosed up.

I remember my parents typing in the code for Taco Man (iirc...it was like Pac Man or Munch Man) in 81 or so for our TI-99/4A. I think it was then recorded to cassette for loading later. I also had books with tons of basic code and my favorite was one that made R2D2 sounds for about 10 seconds.

Kirk Vikernes has a new favorite as of 17:39 on Feb 7, 2015

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

I typed in the Mad program and made one mistake in the data so there was an errant line :(

e: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf1lQE7LeGI

Goober Peas
Jun 30, 2007

Check out my 'Vette, bro


I went through a period where I used all of my free time keying BASIC games from computer magazines and books.

hackbunny
Jul 22, 2007

I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

Flipperwaldt posted:

They were still 1.44MB formatted under MS DOS.

Floppy drives could actually format disks, i.e. rewrite the magnetic tracks and sectors, unlike hard disks. "Formatting" a hard disk actually just overwrites the data, the disk's firmware lacks the code to format-format (what you may have heard of as "low-level format") the disk

So, with the right program, you could redraw the magnetic layout of a floppy disk as you wished, making tracks and sectors as narrow as the physical limits of the disk and drive allowed. This was only useful as long as you had a driver for your OS that could read the format back

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

Goober Peas posted:

I went through a period where I used all of my free time keying BASIC games from computer magazines and books.

I had a subscription to Compute! Magazine that included the disc with the programs on it.

old bean factory
Nov 18, 2006

Will ya close the fucking doors?!
I loved PC mags. Before they died out here, one of the publishers decided to put hardcore porn on their software CDs, with a very (not) sophisticated age gate. That was weird, but 15 year old me decided it was a great move.

Oh yeah, it was from a guide on overclocking that I learned how to make my motherboard produce blue smoke. Good times.

old bean factory has a new favorite as of 21:50 on Feb 7, 2015

SaintFu
Aug 27, 2006

Where's your god now?

Goober Peas posted:

I went through a period where I used all of my free time keying BASIC games from computer magazines and books.


This was a fixture of a sizable segment of my childhood.

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Code Jockey
Jan 24, 2006

69420 basic bytes free

SaintFu posted:


This was a fixture of a sizable segment of my childhood.

Oh wooooooow, I haven't seen this in ages.

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