To: WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 22:18:45 -0500
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Looking for a "classic computer" item...
From: Ron Kean <ronkean at juno.com>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

I was thinking you were working with an old home computer with no
networking, but it sounds like all you need is the 5.25 inch drive.  I'm
typing this message on a 2005 windows XP computer, and it has a serial
port which I did not know was there until I just looked, as I have never
used it.

On Tue, 26 Nov 2013 18:53:46 -0500 mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us> writes:
> On 11/26/13 04:17, Ron Kean wrote:
> > There are two kinds of 5.25 floppies, 360K and 1.2M, and thus two
> kinds
> > of 5.25 drives.  A 1.2M drive will read both kinds.  But if you
> have a
> > working computer which can use a 5.25 drive, probably the only way
> to get
> > data off that computer would be by serial cable to another
> computer,
> > which requires a serial data transfer program, which would be a
> DOS
> > program or early Windows.  But it's been years since computers
> have been
> > made with a serial port.
>
> Um, yeah, but I said "20 years old", and *no* one had 5.25" drives
> that
> didn't do 1.2M by the late eighties. Also, about the serial port,
> well, no,
> since every server I have at work has one.
>
> Also, why do you think that a computer from the nineties wouldn't be
> able to
> put in a network card?
>
> That being said, my '06-vintage m/b, which I'm about to replace once
> I've
> done this, not only has a floppy drive cable, and power for it, but
> USB
> ports. And, of course, my 10/100 NIC.
> >
> > If getting a working 5.25 drive will solve your problem, it may be
> that
> > easiest way to get one is to buy one on ebay, or try a google
> shopping
> > search.  I see a 1.2M on ebay right now for $20 BIN plus
> shipping.
>
> Or I could ask on techie mailing lists, rather than pay $20 (if I
> was lucky)
> and more likely $40 for something I want to use for a couple of
> weeks?
>
> Btw, several folks had 'em laying about.
>
>         mark
> >
> > On Mon, 25 Nov 2013 20:50:24 -0500 mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
> writes:
> >> Well, if 20 yr old cars are "classic cars"... I'm looking for a
> 5.25"
> >> floppy
> >> drive. No, not 3.5", a 5.25".
> >>
> >> I'm trying to go through my hundreds of old disks, get what few
> >> things are
> >> worth it off, and wipe them all. My drive died - well, it tries
> to
> >> read, and
> >> marks its place (scrapes the floppies).
> >>
> >>          mark "I only need it for a few weeks"
>
> >> --
> >> "The [Dreyfus] Affair ... insisted that Justice was more
> >> important than Reasons of State - and even that disorder
> >> is to be preferred to sustained and extreme injustice."
> >>      - D. Wileman, Republicans of the Muddle
> >>
> >
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