Re: [IAEP] Looking for very old hardware
On Fri, Aug 07, 2009 at 05:03:33PM +0200, Sascha Silbe wrote: On Thu, Aug 06, 2009 at 02:55:33PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: I would like very much to be able to put these old 5 1/2 floppies in, boot them up and print out the code so some enterprising Python programmer could convert them for Sugar. I'm not even sure the disks will still work. They are probably 20+ years old. Sorry to be unhelpful, but I doubt those floppies still work. I have thrown away all my 3.5 disks some years ago because they all had errors, and the 5.25 ones long before. Disks usually last about 5 years, maybe 10 if you're lucky (depends on magnetic fields in the vicinity, including the earth magnetic field). If you've got a chance go and try, but I wouldn't recommend spending any money on it. If you choose to try anyway, despite the warnings of the floppies being too old, then this site looks like could be better than ebay: http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/m_parts.html I still have various Mac hardware as old as a PowerBook 1xx with external 3.5 drive, and also have some PC 5.25 but according to some web pages they cannot read Macintosh floppies (as they are not variable speed drives as Apple used back then, berfore the Superdrives). ...also, I live in Denmark and wouldn't recommend sending those old floppies by snail mail... Good luck! - Jonas -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private signature.asc Description: Digital signature ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Looking for very old hardware
On Thu, Aug 06, 2009 at 02:55:33PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: I would like very much to be able to put these old 5 1/2 floppies in, boot them up and print out the code so some enterprising Python programmer could convert them for Sugar. I'm not even sure the disks will still work. They are probably 20+ years old. Sorry to be unhelpful, but I doubt those floppies still work. I have thrown away all my 3.5 disks some years ago because they all had errors, and the 5.25 ones long before. Disks usually last about 5 years, maybe 10 if you're lucky (depends on magnetic fields in the vicinity, including the earth magnetic field). If you've got a chance go and try, but I wouldn't recommend spending any money on it. CU Sascha -- http://sascha.silbe.org/ http://www.infra-silbe.de/ signature.asc Description: Digital signature ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Looking for very old hardware
Hello All, I asked this question about a year ago, but would like to ask it again. I have been given some educational math software for elementary school written in Basic (or,maybe, machine language) for the old Apple ii series. I also have a copy of an excellent program for Algebra I, also for the Apple ii series. Both of these are teacher tested and approved. About 2-3 years ago I gave away my old Apple iie along with the dual disk drive, monitor, and printer. I have looked on ebay and there are some for sale there for very low prices plus a high price for shipping. Of course, they all claim they work, but have no guarantees. I would like very much to be able to put these old 5 1/2 floppies in, boot them up and print out the code so some enterprising Python programmer could convert them for Sugar. I'm not even sure the disks will still work. They are probably 20+ years old. Does anyone reading this list have access to a working Apple ii system with monitor and printer? If so, I could send the disks to them and they could do the print out of the code. These are excellent, public domain programs (one is from the old softsawap we used to have in California. I have one of the disks here in MT. The other is at my home in CA. Caryl___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
