Hey, does anyone know where I can get a floppy drive that takes 5 1/4" floppy disks? One that I can hook up to a computer running Windows XP Pro? I still have some unused floppies that size. I hate letting storage material go to waste. Maybe I can store something appropriate on them.
(Via Dean Esmay.)
Posted by Andrea Harris at March 16, 2003 01:15 AMgo to your nearest college, go to the IT department, and ask for one. I guarantee they have a stack left over from ages ago that are collecting dust. they'll give you one.
Posted by: chris at March 16, 2003 at 01:50 AMAbout six months later, I sat down in the computer room of a nearby university, and a guy at the next terminal, whom I didn't know, asked me, "Hey, have you seen this Mosaic thing?" His eyes were shining.
"Uh uh."
"It's like gopher," he said, "but better!" So he showed me one of probably a dozen web pages then in existence. It had pictures! This was indeed unlike gopher! Cool!
Ahhh, nostalgia.
If you find that 5.25" in drive, Andrea, ask them if they have any 9-track tape drives. I've got some tapes I want to transfer.
Posted by: Angie Schultz at March 16, 2003 at 01:59 AMAnd then it all went to hell in a handbasket.
Very nostalgic...
Posted by: Scott Chaffin at March 16, 2003 at 08:54 AMDang. I just threw one away, in the last spousal purge.
Posted by: David Perron at March 16, 2003 at 09:18 AMI have one in my Celeron 733 machine running Win2K, no reason it shouldn't operate in an XP machine. Andrea, if you don't find one simpler to get, drop me an e-mail -- I installed this thing just for the helluvit, and haven't actually had a practical use for it since.
Posted by: Kevin McGehee at March 16, 2003 at 10:23 AMThere are stores around that specialize in refurbishing and reselling old computer equipment. In the Washington, DC area, for example, there's PC Retro. You can also try Computer Geeks. Also, you might try (if you have time to wait until next weekend or whenever) visiting a computer show/swap meet; the vendors there sell just about everything, including 5 1/4" floppy disk drives. I don't think you'll have any special problems installing the drive, there's an extra connector on just about every floppy-drive cable; just make sure you have a 5 1/4" bay open in your case. The drive should show up as drive B: on your system after installation (your 3 1/2" floppy being drive A:)
Posted by: Joe at March 16, 2003 at 05:46 PMI was kidding about the 9-track drive, Andrea. I thought you were kidding about the floppies. (Somewhere, I'm sure I still have some punch cards.)
Posted by: Angie Schultz at March 17, 2003 at 12:10 AMNo, alas, I still have floppies. Some of them still have my old Basica assignments on them, and my old DBPlus III stuff as well. (They are from my first computer classes in college, back when I still thought I could major in what was called Computer Science.)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 17, 2003 at 12:31 AMThe floppy cable in my bugbox didn't have the extra connector, but fortunately I have a few PC carcasses lying around for spare parts. Andrea, you might want to go ahead and see about getting a two-connector floppy cable along with the drive, just to make sure.
Posted by: Kevin McGehee at March 17, 2003 at 10:43 AM