|
So it was my birthday and I am 32 now. My sister thought it would be funny to give me an 8" floppy diskette to decorate my wall or just as a mockery of the slow approach of death. It looks like it is in good condition, and there is a label on it "H.Y.C. Hijacking of the Achille Lauro - 3". I was curious and I googled that.... it is a bad terrorism from 1985. So now I am wondering what the terrorist disk my sister gave me contains, but of course I have no means of reading it or even knowing if it was overwritten. What do you think is on it? Am I in the possession of secret intelligence or just a proto-Encarta article? Did Encarta exist in 1985? Does anyone know how I can get this read or do it myself without reconstructing a computer from 30 years ago???????? 
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2019 23:28
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 15:41 |
|
|
Zartosht posted:You can just buy a USB floppy drive on amazon or wherever, they're pretty cheap. I am afraid I cannot, because this is an 8" floppy, not 3.5" . unless you know of someone who has manufactured such a thing, the only 8" drives I can find have a parallel port. I do not have such a port and I don't think anyone makes a card to run such a thing on modern architecture..... would Windows10 even understand how to read that? The mystery grows.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2019 23:34
|
|
|
To clarify for any zoomers who are somehow on these forums, 8 inch floppys were the things old people used to play oregon trail and they're the size of a small dinner plate and very floppy.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2019 23:36
|
|
|
Empty Sandwich posted:I didn't even play ADVENTURE on 8" floppies, but I'm sure some people did I played on an Apple II and it had a 5 1/4" floppy drive. I was like 8 years old and it was bigger in my memory. I thought it was 8" because the human mind is pathetic and flawed. I don't think I have ever used an 8" disk myself......... what is this thing???
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2019 00:01
|
|
|
PHIZ KALIFA posted:OP where are you located? let's google around a bit to see if there's any retro computer guys near you. maybe even such as a PC repair shop or university may have this hardware Accessible. I wouldn't know where to start looking, but I do live not super-far from Rutgers University New Brunswick campus?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2019 00:03
|
|
|
PHIZ KALIFA posted:well, first off, contact someone in their comp sci department and ask if they've got anything which could potentially read that disk. next, try a post in Nextdoor/Craigslist/local FB groups asking for contact info of retro computer enthusiasts. I should have specified, New Brunswick NJ in the good ol USA. That is still helpful, I am going to make it my mission to try that stuff this week.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2019 00:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 15:41 |
|
|
935 posted:If the contents of the disk aren't read by end of week, ban OP Please no. Nefarious 2.0 posted:i found this cap for a bic pen, but the pen itself was nowhere to be found. this looks like a mystery for the goons! If you read the OP, you'd know this was a useless gift, not something I found. Charles posted:It's a 5.25" disk. OP didn't measure I did measure, it is 8". My sister sent me the link she used when she purchased it after I mentioned it was a terrorism. It was advertised as 8". Just like my dick. Sounds like this was for an obscure enterprise need, likely at some company using older or outdated hardware....which also would adequately describe the Federal Government, well known for still using COBOL code. Could HYC stand for something government related? Hillary Yakov Clinton?!?!?! I'd be happy to mail it to some goon if they happen to have the ability to try and read it, but unless someone from the university replies to my email I am probably not buying and configuring a drive for this, especially since it is likely degraded. Looks like we will have to handle this the old fashioned way.... internet sleuthing.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2019 19:45
|
|