I should start my own computer archive. I have nore for the Tek 8002a. Meta compilers, compilers, assemblers, debug and ICE. and it's been setting in the bedroom for 45 years. Mice pissed on the backplane, but I patched it. Hasn't seen power since. Don't even mention the Tek 65XX shitstorm and the firesale. I offered my boss a Tek GPU, gold and shiny, As a wall hanger He declined, with a look of disgust. 32016/32032 was a bitter pill. Jim
On Sat, Oct 18, 2025 at 11:22 AM Fred Cisin via cctalk < [email protected]> wrote: > They have a project of rcovering data from floppies, that was written up > by BBC > > > https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks > > The article is a pleasant read, but has technical inaccuracies. > > For example, they say that a 3 inch drive (as compared to 3.5" drive) has > "a different voltage system". (+5V and +12V doesn't seem to be a > "different voltage system")) They "had to source a specific disk drive > made by Amstrad, build new connectors and jerry-rig a power cable to > access the disks." The most common 3" drive in USA is the one that was > marketed by Amdek. They used to have ads for two drive systems for Apple > and Coco. The bare drives of those have the exact same power and data > cabling as 5.25" drive. (34 pin card edge, and a power plug that we > [erroneously?] refer to as Amphenol) > Or, maybe they just mean that they have drives with power supplies that > expect 110VAC 60Hz? > I hope that they realize that 3" drives were available both as double > sided and as "flippy", and that neither of those can access the secnd side > of the other. (Some minor machining to let the Double sided also flip, > would let the DS do both) > > "I bought my eight-inch drive off eBay," says Chris Knowles, a participant > in the Future Nostalgia project. "It was a miracle that it worked." > > They mention mould, "delicately teasing mould off the flimsy surface of > the magnetic disks to avoid scratching them", > but not loss of coating on the cookie, nor about baking. No mention of > need to clean heads more than usual. > > They talk about need to find people with knowledge of the systems, to be > able to make sense of them, but no mention of commercial disk format > conversion software, such as 22Disk (We miss you, Chuck), XenoCopy, > Uniform, etc. > No mention of flux transition systems to get raw track images when they > don't know the disk format. > Although, to be fair, a lot of those problems are file structure (every > word processing program had its own unique file structure), after the file > itself has been accessed. > > > They say, while on the topic of PC and Mac disks that it is very hard to > date the materials. "It's quite difficult to date floppy disks as people > used systems for quite a while," > Did they not notice the "DATE" field in the file primary directory entry? > > No mention of data recovery from corrupted or damaged disks. > > On 9 October 2025, she hosted a floppy disk workshop at Cambridge > University Library where members of the public could bring old disks they > had at home to see what contents are locked inside. > https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research-institute/events/floppy-disks-workshop > They explicitly reject "ZIP disks, JAZ drives, SuperDisks, or other > non-floppy portable media" > > > -- > Grumpy Ol' Fred [email protected] >
