Am… am I old enough now that if I explain why the 3 1/2 inch ‘floppies’ were called ‘floppies’, despite having a hard case… that people would appreciate it out of etymylogical curiosity?
Before the 3 1/2 inch form factor for ‘floppies’… there were 8 inch, and 5 3/4 inch floppies… which did not have a hard plastic case, and were about as flexible as an empty, open manilla folder.
(I hope to god I am not so old I need to explain what a manilla folder is)
Anyway, these larger floppies did have a protective case, but it was a much more thin and flexible kind of plastic, which would bend and… flop.
Hence, floppy disk.
If you crack open a 3 1/2 inch floppy, you will see a very similar kind of floppy, magnetically read/writeable disk as with their antecedents… which itself is basically an evolution of even older magnetic tape drives, which were more or less similar to audio cassette tapes and vcr tapes, but spun and wound around as reels, instead of radially.
… So anyway, Tasha, what form factor of floppy drive is your favorite: 3 1/2, 5 3/4, or 8 inch?
Some how I got the feeling he had the hardware, but none of the firmware.
A little firmware update and that floppy disc will be a hard 3.5 inch, but somehow still a floppy.
Am… am I old enough now that if I explain why the 3 1/2 inch ‘floppies’ were called ‘floppies’, despite having a hard case… that people would appreciate it out of etymylogical curiosity?
Before the 3 1/2 inch form factor for ‘floppies’… there were 8 inch, and 5 3/4 inch floppies… which did not have a hard plastic case, and were about as flexible as an empty, open manilla folder.
(I hope to god I am not so old I need to explain what a manilla folder is)
Anyway, these larger floppies did have a protective case, but it was a much more thin and flexible kind of plastic, which would bend and… flop.
Hence, floppy disk.
If you crack open a 3 1/2 inch floppy, you will see a very similar kind of floppy, magnetically read/writeable disk as with their antecedents… which itself is basically an evolution of even older magnetic tape drives, which were more or less similar to audio cassette tapes and vcr tapes, but spun and wound around as reels, instead of radially.
… So anyway, Tasha, what form factor of floppy drive is your favorite: 3 1/2, 5 3/4, or 8 inch?
none of that matters if you don’t know how to “read” it.