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hs586 9 minutes ago [-]
This is definitely not recommended but when I was a kid we also used floppy disk films to look at solar eclipses. That was far from the most dangerous thing we did in 90s in a post-Soviet country.
To this day, when I read or think about a solar eclipse, I have a visual image of floppies! My first instinct seeing this on HN was “is this because there is a solar eclipse tomorrow?”
vunderba 3 hours ago [-]
Relatedly, I was recently digging through the attic at my family’s home and came across a 3.5" disk containing a bunch of QBASIC programs I’d written in the early ’90s. Despite sitting for decades in a non–climate-controlled attic, it loaded up just fine when I plugged it into a USB floppy drive. Honestly, looking back at code from 30+ years ago felt more like an archaeology expedition.
Also how many other kids also went around brandishing 3.5" floppies like a weird gun, "cocking them" by pulling back the shutter and letting it go with a satisfying snap?
qiqitori 2 hours ago [-]
A while ago I learned that very early versions of 3.5" floppies didn't have the auto shutter mechanism and you had to open and close the shutter manually. (I think that was probably just used on some Japanese Sony machines.)
mister_mort 2 hours ago [-]
I definitely remember doing that as a kid, and I remember bending the thin metal off some broken ones. Whatever brand I was using allowed that metal to work a bit like a spring, you could launch it by compressing it. (Sorta like the frogs you find in Christmas bonbons.)
ColdStream 1 hours ago [-]
Looking back over any code older than 12 months is always like archaeology, at least if it is my poorly documented tech-debt ridden nonsense.
vunderba 1 hours ago [-]
haha true.
My favorite part is when I start cursing loudly "what hipster doofus wrote this pile of steaming horse crap?" as my eyes bleed Ark of the Covenant style from unblinkingly debugging poorly documented code in a company with a huge codebase only to realize a few seconds later that it’s mine from several years back, when I first started. The old “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
Waterluvian 3 hours ago [-]
If you loosen the metal cover just right you can make it go absolutely sailing across a computer lab (or any room, I bet).
recursive 2 hours ago [-]
Definitely can still feel the spring sensation.
ayaros 46 minutes ago [-]
A couple years ago I got a bunch of recycled low density DS/DD disks here. It was a good deal; yeah I had to clean em off a bit, and I also re-labeled them with some newer labels. But a good deal nonetheless. I approve.
NickNaraghi 3 hours ago [-]
These used to be 50 cents a piece at my high school library. What a joy it was to have a tiny simple way to transport essays (and pixel art and other fun things) to and from school and amongst all the school computers.
mrkpdl 2 hours ago [-]
Yes! But beware the one computer in the second row that wrecks your disk, learned one by one, the hard way.
grahamburger 28 minutes ago [-]
My son told be today that he wants to buy a floppy disk drive because one of the bands he likes started releasing singles on 3.5" floppies.
What a time to be alive.
fuzzfactor 1 hours ago [-]
Now I've got a pack of old floppies that are outgassing :0
I have no other explanation.
This is an almost-full box of miscellaneous floppies in one of the original cardboard trays of 30 from Office Depot.
I've got kilos more floppies in different closets but these are good ones I selected a few years ago that all passed SCANDISK.
Now this one little box is in an old ziploc bag in the office and it keeps self-inflating. At first I thought it was unusually low barometric pressure one day but I keep squeezing out the air rain or shine and it keeps on puffing back out by itself.
Something I really didn't expect.
If I did still own my own laboratory, I'd tell you what kind of gas it was by now though ;)
userbinator 27 minutes ago [-]
Are you sure it's not just the bag attempting to return to its original shape? They are also not truly airtight, so there might be some sort of osmosis effect too.
The possibility of mold growth may also be considered.
To this day, when I read or think about a solar eclipse, I have a visual image of floppies! My first instinct seeing this on HN was “is this because there is a solar eclipse tomorrow?”
Also how many other kids also went around brandishing 3.5" floppies like a weird gun, "cocking them" by pulling back the shutter and letting it go with a satisfying snap?
My favorite part is when I start cursing loudly "what hipster doofus wrote this pile of steaming horse crap?" as my eyes bleed Ark of the Covenant style from unblinkingly debugging poorly documented code in a company with a huge codebase only to realize a few seconds later that it’s mine from several years back, when I first started. The old “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
What a time to be alive.
I have no other explanation.
This is an almost-full box of miscellaneous floppies in one of the original cardboard trays of 30 from Office Depot.
I've got kilos more floppies in different closets but these are good ones I selected a few years ago that all passed SCANDISK.
Now this one little box is in an old ziploc bag in the office and it keeps self-inflating. At first I thought it was unusually low barometric pressure one day but I keep squeezing out the air rain or shine and it keeps on puffing back out by itself.
Something I really didn't expect.
If I did still own my own laboratory, I'd tell you what kind of gas it was by now though ;)
The possibility of mold growth may also be considered.
https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy