Does anyone remember these
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... or even have one? Exatron Stringy Floppy - Wikipedia[^] Back in 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget. Stuck with a ordinary tape recorder (I still have it and use it to load the old tapes), this appeared to be a compromise, but turned out to be a dead end.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
... or even have one? Exatron Stringy Floppy - Wikipedia[^] Back in 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget. Stuck with a ordinary tape recorder (I still have it and use it to load the old tapes), this appeared to be a compromise, but turned out to be a dead end.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
... or even have one? Exatron Stringy Floppy - Wikipedia[^] Back in 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget. Stuck with a ordinary tape recorder (I still have it and use it to load the old tapes), this appeared to be a compromise, but turned out to be a dead end.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.Quote:
Known data capacities/tape length are: 4 kB/5 feet, 16 kB/20 feet, 48 kB/50 feet, and 64 Kk/75 feet. One complete cycle through a 20-foot tape takes 55 to 65 seconds, depending on the number of files on it.
So seek time of a minute, for a total capacity of 16kB ... I'm really, really, glad I never had one! :laugh: Thinking about it, if you stored one 16kB file on it, you'd be looking at a fetch time of between one and two minutes depending on where the "string" was ... that's horrible!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt -
Sinclair was the first to reduce the hardware to a minimum, but often also reduced quality or reliability. Did the microdrives work well or did they fall apart after some time?
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
Quote:
Known data capacities/tape length are: 4 kB/5 feet, 16 kB/20 feet, 48 kB/50 feet, and 64 Kk/75 feet. One complete cycle through a 20-foot tape takes 55 to 65 seconds, depending on the number of files on it.
So seek time of a minute, for a total capacity of 16kB ... I'm really, really, glad I never had one! :laugh: Thinking about it, if you stored one 16kB file on it, you'd be looking at a fetch time of between one and two minutes depending on where the "string" was ... that's horrible!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
I stumbled over those long forgotten drives while getting together my plans for the 40 year anniversary version of my old computer. I am going to try to build an IDE interface for a hard disk or perhaps an SD card as 'SSD'. Let's just pretend an 8 bit computer could access the drives as fast as RAM (which it definitely could not), how long would it take to write a sector? We would be spared most of the seeking time, but loading a few kilobytes would still take a noticable amount of time.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
Sinclair was the first to reduce the hardware to a minimum, but often also reduced quality or reliability. Did the microdrives work well or did they fall apart after some time?
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
When it worked it worked well, the tapes wore out quickly though. I think I remember the tapes were quite expensive too.
Then I am probably better off with my ordinary cassette tapes. They are almost 40 years old and the computer can still load them.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
... or even have one? Exatron Stringy Floppy - Wikipedia[^] Back in 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget. Stuck with a ordinary tape recorder (I still have it and use it to load the old tapes), this appeared to be a compromise, but turned out to be a dead end.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
TRS - 80 ! That's where my coding started. No floppy though, I had to retype my progs every afternoon.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
There were interfaces for all kinds of 8 bit computers, even for kits like mine.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
... or even have one? Exatron Stringy Floppy - Wikipedia[^] Back in 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget. Stuck with a ordinary tape recorder (I still have it and use it to load the old tapes), this appeared to be a compromise, but turned out to be a dead end.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
Quote:
Known data capacities/tape length are: 4 kB/5 feet, 16 kB/20 feet, 48 kB/50 feet, and 64 Kk/75 feet. One complete cycle through a 20-foot tape takes 55 to 65 seconds, depending on the number of files on it.
So seek time of a minute, for a total capacity of 16kB ... I'm really, really, glad I never had one! :laugh: Thinking about it, if you stored one 16kB file on it, you'd be looking at a fetch time of between one and two minutes depending on where the "string" was ... that's horrible!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
This is memory mind you, but I recall it taking about 20 minutes to load a C64 program from a cassette tape. And I was happy to wait.:laugh: And since it is memory I don't have any more details. Any more I just get annoyed if I start something and it takes a double digit seconds. I guess we are more a product of our environment than I thought. :omg:
Jack of all trades, master of none, though often times better than master of one.
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TRS - 80 ! That's where my coding started. No floppy though, I had to retype my progs every afternoon.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
Yep, same here but it was even more limited: 1K ROM, 1K RAM, 6x7 segment display and a hex keyboard. Type in the Assembly programs ( 6502 assembly ) over and over again, raw hex code that is, no fancy assembler or anything. Then again, you learn assembly fast enough and thoroughly that way. Too bad my "Junior computer" ( for those who remember :) ) was zapped by a lightning strike a few years later. It is still sitting somwehere in the attic and is not visibly damaged but the TTL chips on it did not like the 15 V DC they got when the power supply gave in to the lightning strike.
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CDP1802 wrote:
n 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget.
Me too, but mostly because I was still in diapers. :-\
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Not exactly diapers, but my budget was still defined by my weekly allowance. :-)
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
... or even have one? Exatron Stringy Floppy - Wikipedia[^] Back in 1978 a floppy controller plus drive was far beyond my budget. Stuck with a ordinary tape recorder (I still have it and use it to load the old tapes), this appeared to be a compromise, but turned out to be a dead end.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.I started with C64 and a 1530 (upgraded version), later got an 1451 - that was a big deal!!! All used the counter (mechanical) to find files faster... Otherwise you had to wait for a full search at an average speed 50 bytes/sec...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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I started with C64 and a 1530 (upgraded version), later got an 1451 - that was a big deal!!! All used the counter (mechanical) to find files faster... Otherwise you had to wait for a full search at an average speed 50 bytes/sec...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
Come right over. I have two C64 with 1541 floppies in my shelf, ready to go.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
Come right over. I have two C64 with 1541 floppies in my shelf, ready to go.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.I always play with the thought to buy one, but afraid I will play with it all day long... Just loved it...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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I always play with the thought to buy one, but afraid I will play with it all day long... Just loved it...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
I also have several Atari ST, an Atari 400, two Atari 600XL, an Atari 800XL....
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
Quote:
Known data capacities/tape length are: 4 kB/5 feet, 16 kB/20 feet, 48 kB/50 feet, and 64 Kk/75 feet. One complete cycle through a 20-foot tape takes 55 to 65 seconds, depending on the number of files on it.
So seek time of a minute, for a total capacity of 16kB ... I'm really, really, glad I never had one! :laugh: Thinking about it, if you stored one 16kB file on it, you'd be looking at a fetch time of between one and two minutes depending on where the "string" was ... that's horrible!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
The 1530 for C64 was 4-5 times slower than that!!! And for time it was all the external storage we had... I remember to record programs from the radio on a normal tape, than load it to the computer... If there was some disturbance in the receiving we got a faulty software...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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I also have several Atari ST, an Atari 400, two Atari 600XL, an Atari 800XL....
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.Never had Atari. I moved to Amiga (500 and 3000) and PC next...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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The 1530 for C64 was 4-5 times slower than that!!! And for time it was all the external storage we had... I remember to record programs from the radio on a normal tape, than load it to the computer... If there was some disturbance in the receiving we got a faulty software...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
Probably still faster and more reliable than typing it in from those magazines!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
