# If you know this, you're probably getting on a bit...



## Northerner (Aug 20, 2019)




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## Contused (Aug 20, 2019)




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## Chris Hobson (Aug 21, 2019)

When presented with an actual floppy disc, one millenial thought that it was a 3D print out of the save icon.


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## Chris Hobson (Aug 21, 2019)

Technology is now advancing at such a frightening pace that even oldies like me are surprised by blog posts about obsolete technology. There are things there that I have seen through all the different phases of being new, trendy, universal, old hat and completely obsolete in what seems like the blink of an eye.


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## Northerner (Aug 22, 2019)

Chris Hobson said:


> Technology is now advancing at such a frightening pace that even oldies like me are surprised by blog posts about obsolete technology. There are things there that I have seen through all the different phases of being new, trendy, universal, old hat and completely obsolete in what seems like the blink of an eye.


Indeed!   (think these  numbers are wrong though, 'old' ones are mid '80s I would have thought)


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 22, 2019)

Actually, it does look like that!


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## Matt Cycle (Aug 22, 2019)

I remember the 5 1/4 inch floppies in the mid to late 80's which were actually floppy!  Rapidly superceded in my computing experience by the 3 1/2 inch floppies that had a hard case.  Anyone whose only experience was the 3 1/2's  would also wonder why they were called floppies.  No windows and clicking on icons it was ms-dos and loading programs (US spelling of course).


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## Northerner (Aug 22, 2019)

Matt Cycle said:


> I remember the 5 1/4 inch floppies in the mid to late 80's which were actually floppy!  Rapidly superceded in my computing experience by the 3 1/2 inch floppies that had a hard case.  Anyone whose only experience was the 3 1/2's  would also wonder why they were called floppies.  No windows and clicking on icons it was ms-dos and loading programs (US spelling of course).


I used an IBM System /38 business computer that used 8 inch floppies


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## Andy HB (Aug 22, 2019)

Northerner said:


> I used an IBM System /38 business computer that used 8 inch floppies


Now, you're just boasting!


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## Andy HB (Aug 22, 2019)

Northerner said:


> Indeed!   (think these  numbers are wrong though, 'old' ones are mid '80s I would have thought)
> 
> View attachment 12177


The size difference doesn't tell even 90% of the story. The computing power difference would be incredible!


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## robert@fm (Aug 22, 2019)

IIRC 8 inch floppies held only 90 MB.  Nowadays, one can get a micro SDXC card holding 1TB {}, although as the only one I've seen was an anonymous brand _and  _suspiciously cheap (£39.95 — a 128GB one costs £12–£20 these days), I wasn't surprised that the only review gave it one star.  Now if it had been a known brand, such as Samsung or Kingston...


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## Northerner (Aug 22, 2019)

robert@fm said:


> IIRC 8 inch floppies held only 90 MB.


Surprisingly nowhere near - just 1.2 MB per disk, although they could be loaded into the drive in a cassette containing 10 floppies, and this would be treated as one storage unit  Later, I worked on an AS/400 (which I incidentally still have in my garage!) - this had a slot for an 8 inch floppy and a cassette tape drive that could store (I think!) 400 MB  The AS/400 I have has 1 MB of ram and cost £30,000 new


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## C&E Guy (Aug 23, 2019)

I'm in my late 50s, and never mind all the computing stuff - I've seen cassettes, 8-tracks, mini-discs, video cassettes, laser discs, Betamax, Walkmans & Discmans, various toys, answering machines, Super 8 cine, video cameras, Krookloks, coloured vinyl, various shapes of tv and Filofaxes all become the "latest thing" and then fade into obscurity.

Any others?


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## mikeyB (Aug 24, 2019)

Actually, though Betamax disappeared commercially, it was only conquered by marketing. Professional video cameramen continued using it because of the better quality until digital kit came along. And you can still buy Krookloks, or at least the modern equivalent. 

It’s only tech stuff that dates. I often use a pressure cooker, just as my great gran used. And add ingredients using a box grater, a design classic. I walk using elbow crutches, the NHS design. Work perfectly, unchanged in decades. I’m sure folk can think of others


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## KARNAK (Aug 24, 2019)

I still have my Amstrad NC200 notebook computer with a signed letter by the chairman, Alan now Sir Alan Sugar, sorry can`t say any more I`ve just been fired.


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## Northerner (Aug 24, 2019)

I've also got a Psion Organiser   Completely defunct in purpose now!


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## Eddy Edson (Aug 24, 2019)

Northerner said:


> Surprisingly nowhere near - just 1.2 MB per disk, although they could be loaded into the drive in a cassette containing 10 floppies, and this would be treated as one storage unit  Later, I worked on an AS/400 (which I incidentally still have in my garage!) - this had a slot for an 8 inch floppy and a cassette tape drive that could store (I think!) 400 MB  The AS/400 I have has 1 MB of ram and cost £30,000 new



9-inch floppies ... luxury!

My first computing experience used optical mark read cards for an IBM 1130 ... programming in APL.  I think this was intended to convince high school kids not to go into computing; if so, didn't work ...


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## Andy HB (Aug 25, 2019)

Eddy Edson said:


> 9-inch floppies ... luxury!
> 
> My first computing experience used optical mark read cards for an IBM 1130 ... programming in APL.  I think this was intended to convince high school kids not to go into computing; if so, didn't work ...



Yay! APL!! I played with that (the IP Sharp variety) quite a bit when I used to work for Midland Bank in the late 80's. The management eventually took a dislike to it because it was all greek to them!

But my first computing experience was at high school with an electronic dumb terminal linked to a mainframe computer (can't remember where the mainframe was now) and it used simple hole punch tape to save and read the program. My fiddling earned me a Merit in Computer Appreciation (I still have the certificate for some reason)!


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## Eddy Edson (Aug 26, 2019)

Andy HB said:


> Yay! APL!! I played with that (the IP Sharp variety) quite a bit when I used to work for Midland Bank in the late 80's. The management eventually took a dislike to it because it was all greek to them!
> 
> But my first computing experience was at high school with an electronic dumb terminal linked to a mainframe computer (can't remember where the mainframe was now) and it used simple hole punch tape to save and read the program. My fiddling earned me a Merit in Computer Appreciation (I still have the certificate for some reason)!



I did a lot of IP Sharp work around the same time, also with banks.  

As a kid, APL was a nerd-thrill. Magic symbols, powerful & incomprehensible to anybody except the nerdiest nerds. At times it almost made up for pimples! It was also a pretty terrible way to learn much about mainstream computing


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