This might be controversial, but I don't see anything inherently wrong with non-networked computer systems using old tech. I think a lot of tech nerds see the tech as the sole capability of a system, ie 2x the clock speed is 2x the capability, but that's just not how real world systems work. The biggest issues seem to be getting replacement components as systems age or new systems are purchased (like with the scaling of FGM-148s for Ukraine).
Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
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Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weren’t they ever bigger than that? I have a vague recollection that it was some sort of 8” oddball format. Maybe even a one-off?
8" was the standard size before 5.25" became the norm. Which happened because of the IBM PC using them as standard.
And just to point out, the logical capacity of those disks increased with each physical reduction. Nearly doubling each time. (The best 8" disks had about 1/2 of the capacity of the worst 5 1/4" one, and the best 5 1/4" disk had about 1/2 of the capacity of the worst 3 1/2" one.)
I guess even if IBM didn't put it on the PC, everybody would migrate into 5 1/4" disks on almost the same timeline. Those changes were very compelling back then.
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#23“The Air Force completed a replacement of the aging SACCS floppy drives with a highly secure solid-state digital storage solution in June,” Sounds like flash drives. Perhaps even USB.
The sources I could find say that they didn't replace the computers accessing the data. They are still IBM Series/1 [1] machines. So whatever is being used, there has to be some kind of floppy (or tape, etc) emulator in front of it. It's likely the floppy drive in question was an IBM 23FD "Minnow"[2]. The capacity and timeframe matches up. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Series/1 [2] https://historyofinformatio…
The US military after using 37 different shell companies to purchase hundreds of gotek floppy emulators and 5.25" to 3.5" drive brackets:
> Damn I'm good at modernization
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#24“The Air Force completed a replacement of the aging SACCS floppy drives with a highly secure solid-state digital storage solution in June,” Sounds like flash drives. Perhaps even USB.
The sources I could find say that they didn't replace the computers accessing the data. They are still IBM Series/1 [1] machines. So whatever is being used, there has to be some kind of floppy (or tape, etc) emulator in front of it. It's likely the floppy drive in question was an IBM 23FD "Minnow"[2]. The capacity and timeframe matches up. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Series/1 [2] https://historyofinformatio…
those were 16-bit machines so perhaps they have to find aging flash drives smaller than 2GB?
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#25It obviously shouldn't require floppy disks to run. Those disks are unreliable.
If it only requires floppy disks for system updates or something, that's arguably acceptable for a commercial aircraft in the maintenance hangar but not for a nuclear weapons system.
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#26This might be controversial, but I don't see anything inherently wrong with non-networked computer systems using old tech. I think a lot of tech nerds see the tech as the sole capability of a system, ie 2x the clock speed is 2x the capability, but that's just not how real world systems work. The biggest issues seem to be getting replacement components as systems age or new systems are purchased (like with the scaling…
>anything inherently wrong with non-networked computer systems using old tech
>biggest issues seem to be getting replacement components as systems age
Well, there is one inherently wrong thing about old tech right there :)
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weren’t they ever bigger than that? I have a vague recollection that it was some sort of 8” oddball format. Maybe even a one-off?
8" was the standard size before 5.25" became the norm. Which happened because of the IBM PC using them as standard.
Wow, never knew that! Today I learned.
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#28Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#29What's funny is that the floppy discs they used weren't the 3,5" hard ones people remember from the 90's (the save button icon) but the old 5,25" ones that were actually floppy. That was some ancient shit.
The 8 inch floppy disks are extremely reliable, possibly because the areal density is so low.
Source: friend who is a curator of a computer museum who has old IBM midrange like System 36 and other floppy drives that he uses all the time.
Re: Update Complete: U.S. Nuclear Weapons No Longer Need Floppy Disks (2019)
#30“The Air Force completed a replacement of the aging SACCS floppy drives with a highly secure solid-state digital storage solution in June,” Sounds like flash drives. Perhaps even USB.
Pretty sure they went with the higher capacity Iomega Zip Drives.
Someone has to stand a foot away to catch the disk as its hurled out when ejected.