First thing i thought of, but yeah, most devs today have never held a disk like that.
Why do i always gets so extreamly nostalgic every time something from the 80s and 90s are posted... I guess everyone is like that, stuff from their childhood remains loved.
I think also because it was a fresh field, nobody knew IT so it was exciting. It was like a small interest, similar to collecting stamps or something.
I've never tried it. Is it actually easy to do that with a fridge magnet? Like people say a magnet will destroy a modern HDD but in reality it would take a massively dangerous magnet to do that. Like not anything you could buy as a consumer.
Out of all possibility of people not understandibg this because magnet corrupt the disk, i actually didnt realise it was a magnet and thought it was sticked to a wall with some black sponge on top and was totallt condused what's the joke
Younger people are not stupid, a technician that's able to write software knows what a floppy disk is. I also know how a phonograph cylinder works and they went out of time a little longer ago.
Do I miss the read/write speed? No. Do I miss the capacity? No.
...But I sure DO miss storage media that makes a satisfying "Kachunk" when loaded, and could be forcefully ejected like a spent artillery casing.
I've seen a few projects that stuff a bunch of flash memory into a floppy for crazy storage capacity, which is pretty cool. Maintains that nostalgia and commands much more respect than one of those ridiculously tiny little USBs that's easy to lose! :p
…But I sure DO miss storage media that makes a satisfying “Kachunk” when loaded, and could be forcefully ejected like a spent artillery casing.
Older computers just have a nice mechanical ambiance that newer machines don't replicate quite as well.
I don't miss having the time to go make a cup of tea whilst waiting for the computer to turn on, or having the monitor scream the entire time it's on, but I do miss hearing the hard drive spin-up, and all the POST beeps and drive stepper noises when the computer's booting up.
Floppy disks were a human size. When we need removable media now, it's either a microSD card, which are so tiny there's no way to label them, and thumb drives, which...USB-A is irritating.
Today, I noticed that my glasses case sticks to my work laptop like a magnet.
I played around with it for a few seconds, then the thought struck me, that it might be my glasses case that's magnetic, and I might be fucking up the electronics or the HDD or something by holding it close to my laptop. Pulled away real quick then. 😅
I did try with my keys later, and well, turns out that it's my work laptop that's magnetic, so I guess, I wasn't fucking anything up after all...
That's probably integrated speakers. Those can have quite powerful magnets. If it has old spinny hard drives, those have magnets, too. Sometimes the lid also has a magnet if there is a hall effect sensor for detecting if it's closed.
Usually it's hard to find a magnet that'd be strong enough to make electronics inside a laptop malfunction without breaking the case open. Your regular fridge magnets are too weak for that kind of application, so are the ones usually found in glasses cases. And if you happen to be an owner of a chonky magnet, you probably already know the thing is dangerous.
I'd give it a 50 chance of still working. Those old ferrite magnets had relatively-weak spread-out fields. It obv would have affected the whole platter, but the drives/software were pretty good at dealing with weak signals. We had disks, we had magnets and some of us were youngish and bored. you had to be a little persistent to even fuck the disk up a little.
Now, you place a running AC box fan's motor right up to the drive, i'll corrupt the f out of the disk, i did that before.
What kind of system are you backing up on a single 1.44 mb disk? I guess “restore” just had the restore utilities.
You could boot an old pc from floppy like what later would be called a live CD. Though you were constantly switching disks. Like if you ever played Monkey Island on 5.25” floppies.
Older PCs couldn't always boot from CD. In those cases, you needed a boot disk. It had just enough OS to get the cd drive working and allow for a full install. They also allowed for basic repair or maintenance tasks e.g. resizing the windows partition.
Veterans kept a couple about at home. Nothing like the catch 22. "I need a boot disk to fix my PC/I need my PC to make a boot disk."
A lot of terraform and docker compose files could fit on a floppy still.
Actually, that might be a fun thing to play with. It might not have data. But you could back up a good amount of config and deployment information and have a system to restore data to.
Imagine, if you will, the person who is wise to the effect on a floppy disk, but uses a CD instead (Or DVD). They use it a few times but then it too stops working. Why?
::: spoiler Answer:
Repeated clamping between the fridge and the magnet scratches or destroys enough of the metal layer, which is on the label side, to the point that the disc becomes unreadable.
There's also that leaving a disc out in daylight for long enough can destroy its readability, especially if it's a user-written (burned) disc.
:::
65 Comments
Saganaki@lemmy.zip · 188 pts · 160d
It just occurred to me that younger developers may not see the whole joke here…
For those unaware, a magnet would corrupt/destroy the contents on the floppy disk.
1984@lemmy.today · 33 pts · 160d
First thing i thought of, but yeah, most devs today have never held a disk like that.
Why do i always gets so extreamly nostalgic every time something from the 80s and 90s are posted... I guess everyone is like that, stuff from their childhood remains loved.
I think also because it was a fresh field, nobody knew IT so it was exciting. It was like a small interest, similar to collecting stamps or something.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 159d
Bruh, what? Younger millennials (aka 30-40 yo) were born/raised in the 90's. I find your claim hard to believe.
I'm in that group and I still dealt with floppies as a kid despite my family being poor at the time
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · 1 pts · 159d
Old people still aren't quite ready to understand that the oldest Gen Zs are 28.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 158d
And 28 isn't old enough to occupy "most devs".
It's not an issue if age, it's an issue of reading comprehension
nullPointer@programming.dev · 2 pts · 160d
I use my old floppys as coasters!
ThunderQueen@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 160d
axh@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 160d
For the younger generation it might be a philosophical experience, because that is, The Icon of Saving!
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 159d
Sounds like something worth questing for!
(Ethereal choir singing)
☁️💾☁️
derry@midwest.social · 8 pts · 160d
I was informed everything was stored on the cloud. Why would we need these things called "floppy disks" (which don't like floppy at all)?
/s just in case
wheezy@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 159d
I've never tried it. Is it actually easy to do that with a fridge magnet? Like people say a magnet will destroy a modern HDD but in reality it would take a massively dangerous magnet to do that. Like not anything you could buy as a consumer.
mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 157d
Out of all possibility of people not understandibg this because magnet corrupt the disk, i actually didnt realise it was a magnet and thought it was sticked to a wall with some black sponge on top and was totallt condused what's the joke
Magnum@infosec.pub · -2 pts · 160d
Younger people are not stupid, a technician that's able to write software knows what a floppy disk is. I also know how a phonograph cylinder works and they went out of time a little longer ago.
Saganaki@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 160d
I never suggested they were stupid. Just that they may not know the details. So I explained it.
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 159d
Yeah, there's always somebody that might learn something new by coming across it for the first time. :D
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 160d
*triggering intensifies
username_1@programming.dev · 54 pts · 160d
JetpackJackson@feddit.org · 23 pts · 160d
I thought I was having a stroke lol, didn't even see the other magnets at first
kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 16 pts · 160d
Which is exactly what you'd read out of the floppy disk
dumbass@piefed.social · 9 pts · 160d
Totally dude!
Australis13@fedia.io · 50 pts · 160d
I am old enough to understand this joke. Sigh.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 19 pts · 160d
Which of your joints pops the loudest?
baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de · 20 pts · 160d
always the knees
PhoenixDog@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 160d
My right one in particular sucks.
rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 160d
My whole body just sounds like Chester Thompson x Phil Collins as I walk around
dvlsg@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 160d
My ankles. I think it's because I play drums.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 34 pts · 160d
Is this a magnet you can buy? That would be a cool little gift
CouncilOfFriends@slrpnk.net · 40 pts · 160d
Finding the magnet is easy, but finding the save icon could be tricky.
derek@infosec.pub · 10 pts · 160d
Just 3D print a save icon (thingiverse).
john_t@piefed.ee · 32 pts · 160d
"System disk erase, Restore do not"
Rubanski@discuss.tchncs.de · 16 pts · 160d
Don't dead, open inside
victorz@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 160d
It's that you, Yoda?
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 160d
Restore, or do not restore. There is no backup
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 29 pts · 159d
Do I miss the read/write speed? No. Do I miss the capacity? No.
...But I sure DO miss storage media that makes a satisfying "Kachunk" when loaded, and could be forcefully ejected like a spent artillery casing.
I've seen a few projects that stuff a bunch of flash memory into a floppy for crazy storage capacity, which is pretty cool. Maintains that nostalgia and commands much more respect than one of those ridiculously tiny little USBs that's easy to lose! :p
T156@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 159d
Older computers just have a nice mechanical ambiance that newer machines don't replicate quite as well.
I don't miss having the time to go make a cup of tea whilst waiting for the computer to turn on, or having the monitor scream the entire time it's on, but I do miss hearing the hard drive spin-up, and all the POST beeps and drive stepper noises when the computer's booting up.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 159d
Floppy disks were a human size. When we need removable media now, it's either a microSD card, which are so tiny there's no way to label them, and thumb drives, which...USB-A is irritating.
Wilco@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 159d
I miss those "giant" zip disks that lasted like 5 years as a storage media. They were between 3.5 floppies and burnable CD Roms.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 159d
I recently got into LPs. It's slowly replacing the default home music source. It's really satisfying to have solid physical media.
matsdis@piefed.social · 24 pts · 160d
I feel old now. I can almost hear the noise of the drive trying to chew on this one.
Anyway, have some on-theme music video: BAD SECTOR by unfa (youtube.com)
Ephera@lemmy.ml · 16 pts · 160d
Today, I noticed that my glasses case sticks to my work laptop like a magnet.
I played around with it for a few seconds, then the thought struck me, that it might be my glasses case that's magnetic, and I might be fucking up the electronics or the HDD or something by holding it close to my laptop. Pulled away real quick then. 😅
I did try with my keys later, and well, turns out that it's my work laptop that's magnetic, so I guess, I wasn't fucking anything up after all...
TwilightKiddy@programming.dev · 16 pts · 159d
That's probably integrated speakers. Those can have quite powerful magnets. If it has old spinny hard drives, those have magnets, too. Sometimes the lid also has a magnet if there is a hall effect sensor for detecting if it's closed.
Usually it's hard to find a magnet that'd be strong enough to make electronics inside a laptop malfunction without breaking the case open. Your regular fridge magnets are too weak for that kind of application, so are the ones usually found in glasses cases. And if you happen to be an owner of a chonky magnet, you probably already know the thing is dangerous.
bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 159d
Some laptops use magnets to help the lid snap closed. I took the back off an old Lenovo and could see the magnets clipped inside.
ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social · 7 pts · 159d
Or magnets for hall effect sensors to tell when the lid is closed.
Ephera@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 159d
Ah yeah, that seems to be it. When I drop my keys in the right place, it goes into suspend. If I lift them back off afterwards, it wakes back up.
Neat. 🙃
rumba@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 159d
I'd give it a 50 chance of still working. Those old ferrite magnets had relatively-weak spread-out fields. It obv would have affected the whole platter, but the drives/software were pretty good at dealing with weak signals. We had disks, we had magnets and some of us were youngish and bored. you had to be a little persistent to even fuck the disk up a little.
Now, you place a running AC box fan's motor right up to the drive, i'll corrupt the f out of the disk, i did that before.
commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 160d
this is art
Kaput@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 160d
Honey i found that disk you were desperatly looking for.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 159d
weed at y sky & is a bad of is a
bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 159d
With 5¼" disks, it was more convenient to keep them in a ring binder by punching holes in them.
The other similar story I've heard is someone asking for the backup copy of a disk and being handed a photocopy.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 160d
What kind of system are you backing up on a single 1.44 mb disk? I guess “restore” just had the restore utilities.
You could boot an old pc from floppy like what later would be called a live CD. Though you were constantly switching disks. Like if you ever played Monkey Island on 5.25” floppies.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 9 pts · 160d
I believe it's a practical joke and there isn't actually anything important on that drive.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 160d
Are you akshually’ing my akshually post?
sip@programming.dev · 2 pts · 160d
I think he was letting you know you r/whoosh ed
Magnum@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 160d
What is 'r/'?
sip@programming.dev · 1 pts · 159d
lemmy
Magnum@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 159d
Why, there is no r in lemmy
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 160d
Not anymore!
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 159d
Plot twist: it's a NORAD system recovery diskette.
cynar@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 160d
Older PCs couldn't always boot from CD. In those cases, you needed a boot disk. It had just enough OS to get the cd drive working and allow for a full install. They also allowed for basic repair or maintenance tasks e.g. resizing the windows partition.
Veterans kept a couple about at home. Nothing like the catch 22. "I need a boot disk to fix my PC/I need my PC to make a boot disk."
brygphilomena@midwest.social · 3 pts · 160d
A lot of terraform and docker compose files could fit on a floppy still.
Actually, that might be a fun thing to play with. It might not have data. But you could back up a good amount of config and deployment information and have a system to restore data to.
Hawke@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 160d
When the OS is DOS you can easily fit the entire thing on a floppy.
Mac OS system 6 too, I think.
LOLseas@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 160d
Oh, there's a- Monkey in my pocket! And he's stealing all my change! His stare is blank and glassy I suspect he's deraaaaaanged!
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 159d
LOL! Finding this song in the wild made my week. Thanks for that. XD
Monkey Island is such a treasure:
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?!"
"Apparently neither did your barber."
rumba@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 159d
You used to be able to get a whole-ass router that fit on 1.2MB in the late 90's.
Novell SPX routers also ran from a single floppy
Before bios supported bootable cd's you needed them to get the windows 95 install started.
That said, this was an obvious joke image :)
palordrolap@fedia.io · 4 pts · 160d
Imagine, if you will, the person who is wise to the effect on a floppy disk, but uses a CD instead (Or DVD). They use it a few times but then it too stops working. Why?
::: spoiler Answer: Repeated clamping between the fridge and the magnet scratches or destroys enough of the metal layer, which is on the label side, to the point that the disc becomes unreadable.
There's also that leaving a disc out in daylight for long enough can destroy its readability, especially if it's a user-written (burned) disc. :::
Ghostie@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 159d
derry@midwest.social · 2 pts · 160d
The real question is where are the people in that picture now?
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 159d
Behind you.