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3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

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Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#21

Post by ZuLuuuuuu »

Apparently 3M was a serious player back in the day on magnetic tapes and floppy diskettes. But today they are not present in a similar market (digital storage) at all.

I wonder what was it like to go through that timeframe, as the management and the employees, where the floppy disks were becoming obsolete. Did they purposefully took the decision to not pursue CD, flash memory market? Or was it just a shortsightedness of the management where they fell behind and eventually had to exit that market?

Of course 3M still managed to be successful and today it is one of the big market cap companies...

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#22

Post by blueflow »

alentred wrote: post #18

Just recently I wanted to show my kids the 5.25" floppy disk - I had a small stack somewhere, but could not find it. I have finally found an 3½" floppy and have shown it to my kids (14 y.o. max). Evidently they never used such a thing, but I was genuinely surprised they didn't even know what it was. After a considerable amount of time one of my daughters hesitated but said something like: "Wasn't it like old USB stic…

... have they seen Save buttons with the Floppy pictured on it, either?

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#24

Post by jmorenoamor »

herpessimplex10 wrote: post #16

For all of computing eternity, the only person I've ever heard refer to it as a "diskette" is icon-lady Susan Kare.

Diskette or disquete was a popular term in Spain for floppies, both 3 and 5 inches. In fact everyone called the disk drive "disquetera".

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#25

Post by trollbridge »

ZuLuuuuuu wrote: post #21

Apparently 3M was a serious player back in the day on magnetic tapes and floppy diskettes. But today they are not present in a similar market (digital storage) at all. I wonder what was it like to go through that timeframe, as the management and the employees, where the floppy disks were becoming obsolete. Did they purposefully took the decision to not pursue CD, flash memory market? Or was it just a shortsightedness…

They spun it off into Imation, as 3M’s specialty is coatings and chemicals. Storage no longer really uses those things

You could say that 3M doesn’t make the things you use every day; they make the things you use better.

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#26

Post by chiph »

ZuLuuuuuu wrote: post #21

Apparently 3M was a serious player back in the day on magnetic tapes and floppy diskettes. But today they are not present in a similar market (digital storage) at all. I wonder what was it like to go through that timeframe, as the management and the employees, where the floppy disks were becoming obsolete. Did they purposefully took the decision to not pursue CD, flash memory market? Or was it just a shortsightedness…

3M was indeed a big player in those markets. I purchased both 5.25" and 3.5" 3M floppies and they were good quality and reliable.

I expect they left the market because of declining use and the entrance of much cheaper foreign manufacturers. I expect they didn't enter the flash memory market as they had no existing manufacturing base for them to build on. They would have had to rebrand another firm's chips and circuit boards.

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#27

Post by vbezhenar »

alentred wrote: post #18

Just recently I wanted to show my kids the 5.25" floppy disk - I had a small stack somewhere, but could not find it. I have finally found an 3½" floppy and have shown it to my kids (14 y.o. max). Evidently they never used such a thing, but I was genuinely surprised they didn't even know what it was. After a considerable amount of time one of my daughters hesitated but said something like: "Wasn't it like old USB stic…

Given that computers play a huge role in our lives, shouldn't we taught children some kind of history of computers? It's not that big anyway.

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#29

Post by manwithaplan »

proactivesvcs wrote: post #17

At 1,685,278 bytes this almost fits on within the hallowed 1.44 megabytes. Maybe the front and rear covers can be discarded?

It should fit on an DMF MF-2HD (standard double-sided, high density, 90 millimeters microfloppy formatted in Distribution Media Format, holding 1'720'320 bytes).

Re: 3M Diskette Reference Manual (1983) [pdf]

#30

Post by Tuna-Fish »

proactivesvcs wrote: post #17

At 1,685,278 bytes this almost fits on within the hallowed 1.44 megabytes. Maybe the front and rear covers can be discarded?

A storage disk doesn't need ability to do random block writes, if you ditch that you can remove the sector gaps and put more sectors on the drive. The Microsoft DMF format and utility can put 1,720,320 bytes on a drive.
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