Amiga.org

Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Amiduffer on January 01, 2011, 05:19:16 AM

Title: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Amiduffer on January 01, 2011, 05:19:16 AM
I was browsing through Jens website and came across his retro area, which featured the sale of 5.25" floppy disks. Anyone still use those??
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: ChaosLord on January 01, 2011, 05:24:04 AM
C64 Users?
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: A6000 on January 01, 2011, 07:43:07 AM
I recently stocked up on both 5 1/4"dd and 5 1/4"hd floppies so I have enough for my other retro computers, I have Nascom 1's and 2's, a trs80 model 4 and I am considering  building a Nascom CP/M system which might use 8", 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" drives, I have an 8" drive but no disks yet, I also have Amstrad cpc's and plus's with 3" disks.
I have a bare 8" Winchester drive that has a capacity of 8MB, but it is not worth trying to do anything with it.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: runequester on January 01, 2011, 08:08:11 AM
theres a place in california that sells those, as well as 3.5" ones. According to their website there's a fair share of industrial equipment out there that might take instructions on a 5.25" floppy
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Retro_71 on January 01, 2011, 10:52:11 AM
I still use them bought 100 new one about 2 weeks ago. (C64/128 and Apples... :P )
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: A1260 on January 01, 2011, 11:04:44 AM
i dont need to buy any since i stocked up years ago with 5.25" floppies.. but its still good to see you can buy this old media. 5.25" floppies for the c64 and my old pc :)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: yakumo9275 on January 01, 2011, 02:16:35 PM
Quote from: Amiduffer;603159
I was browsing through Jens website and came across his retro area, which featured the sale of 5.25" floppy disks. Anyone still use those??


for my c128dcr
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: icbrkr on January 01, 2011, 02:17:51 PM
I still buy them... for my C64s, 128s, Color Computer 3, Model 4P, Apple IIgs/c, Atari 8 bits, Vic 20, Plus/4, C16/116, and loads more.  

Luckily though I bought a bulk of them a couple of years back and still haven't gone through them all.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Lando on January 01, 2011, 02:23:42 PM
I used to use them on my Atari 8-bit but not for years since SD cards became usable.  These fragile, unreliable magnetic storage media should be relegated to the dustbin.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: save2600 on January 01, 2011, 02:52:49 PM
Nothing strange about using 5-1/4" floppies still. I use them with my TRS-80 Model III and C64. Then again, 78's, LP's, 45's, cassettes and 8-Tracks are all frequently used at my place  ;)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Iggy on January 01, 2011, 03:17:31 PM
I might, I've got a 360k drive somewhere and they're no longer making this media. In fact, we better get ready for 1.44s to be phased out.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: redrumloa on January 01, 2011, 04:12:33 PM
Quote from: Amiduffer;603159
Anyone still use those??

Yes.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: AmigaEd on January 01, 2011, 04:36:36 PM
In many ways I liked the 5.25" floppies better than the 3.5" floppies.

A friend once accidentally knocked a glass of coca-cola over and it spilled all over his favorite C-64 game disk (sorry it's been too many years, I can't seem to remember which game). Anyway, he slit the 5.25" disk jacket open with a razor blade, pulled the media out and rinsed the media off under the faucet. He then took a new blank 5.25" disk and slit the jacket open on that and pulled the media out. Next he took the washed and dried media and inserted it in to the new jacket. A little cellophane tape to seal the jacket back up and he was gaming again.

(This is also a good example of why you should always have a back-up.)

Regards,
AmigaEd
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Jiffy on January 01, 2011, 04:55:10 PM
Quote from: Amiduffer;603159
Anyone still use those??

Yep. Overhere, on my C64, SX64 and C128(Dcr). I guess I have about a 1000 of them.

For me, it's part of the retro experience. And yes, I also have SD cards and stuff, but the good old 5.25" are still fun to use. I even like the sound of the drives.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Pentad on January 01, 2011, 05:38:30 PM
I think folks who are buying them up are very smart.  At some point they will start to dwindle and the prices will soar so you might as well purchase now while you can.  :-)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: countzero on January 01, 2011, 05:42:17 PM
the x68000 from japan also uses 5.25 HD floppies, and AFAIK, many games need to run from floppy (no harddisk install)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: klx300r on January 01, 2011, 05:47:27 PM
I do for my 64 and 128 though I must admit that my disks from circa 1984 still work perfectly while some disks i just bought last year have errors on them:confused:..I guess it's true they don't make anything like they used too:afro:
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: slaapliedje on January 01, 2011, 07:24:41 PM
Quote from: AmigaEd;603230
In many ways I liked the 5.25" floppies better than the 3.5" floppies.

A friend once accidentally knocked a glass of coca-cola over and it spilled all over his favorite C-64 game disk (sorry it's been too many years, I can't seem to remember which game). Anyway, he slit the 5.25" disk jacket open with a razor blade, pulled the media out and rinsed the media off under the faucet. He then took a new blank 5.25" disk and slit the jacket open on that and pulled the media out. Next he took the washed and dried media and inserted it in to the new jacket. A little cellophane tape to seal the jacket back up and he was gaming again.

(This is also a good example of why you should always have a back-up.)

Regards,
AmigaEd

Reminds me of the time that we somehow managed to get Jam on a 5.25" floppy disk for our Atari 800xl.  Can't recall all the games on it, one was MS. Pacman.  We washed it with a dish rag and soap, and would try it, a game would work, then another wouldn't, so we'd wash it some more until all of them worked again.

The 3.5" disks would get a slight scratch on them from a spec of dust or something and would be useless afterward.

I always thought it had something to do with being able to fit 90k on a 5.25" disk rather than 360k, 720k or 1.44m on a 3.5" disk.  It just doesn't have as much fault tolerance due to cramming more data onto a smaller surface.  

Either way, some of those 5.25" disks were practically indestructible.  We stuck a pencil through another one and it still mostly worked.

slaapliedje
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Amiduffer on January 01, 2011, 07:31:12 PM
That's what I thought. With SD cards becoming more popular, you'd have thought a lot of folks would be transferring their floppy based programs. But, I guess some of you are content with the old way.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: runequester on January 01, 2011, 07:39:02 PM
sometimes it feels like cheating to me :)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: cv643d on January 01, 2011, 08:18:24 PM
Interesting to see so many people still living in the past.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: runequester on January 01, 2011, 08:20:47 PM
People living in the past on an amiga forum? I don't believe it! :)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: A1260 on January 01, 2011, 08:41:58 PM
Quote from: runequester;603268
People living in the past on an amiga forum? I don't believe it! :)


hehehe :D
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: klx300r on January 01, 2011, 08:47:20 PM
Quote from: cv643d;603267
Interesting to see so many people still living in the past.

uhh that's the whole point of retro hobbies mate:afro:;)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: whabang on January 01, 2011, 09:51:05 PM
I have a 5.25 in my secondary PC. :)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: save2600 on January 01, 2011, 09:54:24 PM
Quote from: cv643d;603267
Interesting to see so many people still living in the past.


I live -with- the past.  :)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: XDelusion on January 02, 2011, 02:37:12 AM
I believe everyone has moved onto reading disk images off Compact Flash and SD cards at this point. Only the truly morbid and sadistic still use floppies on their retro hardware. :)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: redrumloa on January 02, 2011, 02:53:20 AM
Quote from: cv643d;603267
Interesting to see so many people still living in the past.

So says the guy with a nickname cv643d posting to an Amiga forum;)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: slaapliedje on January 02, 2011, 03:10:20 AM
Let's face it, the reason we enjoy the old computers like the Amiga, C64, Atari 8-bits, etc. is because they had some personality.  That's what I hate about most newer tech and operating systems.  They lack that personality.  Most Windows boxes are thought of more as a utility, like a toaster that you can browse the internet on.

One of the main reasons I use Linux more often than not is because it is very customizable, much like the Amiga.

Back in the day you could get full programming specs for everything.  Now you have to sign NDAs and such.

So hell yeah, I live in the past!  Back when being a nerd meant you were picked on rather than "Hey, I have a virus on my PC, could you come over and fix it?"  I can at least speak for myself here that I preferred to be called four eyes over having to deal with some moron who keeps getting porn flashed across his screen 'cause he once looked at bigbustyasianmidgets.com.

slaapliedje

Posted from my Nokia N900 which was recently connected to my big screen TV so I could play Golden Axe on my Genesis Emulator wtih a Playstation 3 controller!
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: TjLaZer on January 02, 2011, 06:23:57 AM
Quote from: Amiduffer;603159
I was browsing through Jens website and came across his retro area, which featured the sale of 5.25" floppy disks. Anyone still use those??


There are people that say the same thing to you using Amigas and 3.5" disks...
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: RobertB on January 02, 2011, 08:16:07 AM
Quote from: runequester;603171
theres a place in california that sells those, as well as 3.5" ones.

That would be Athana, Int'l. at

http://www.athana.com/

And they have 8-inch disks, too,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Fats on January 02, 2011, 01:47:45 PM
Quote from: slaapliedje;603322
bigbustyasianmidgets.com.


Can you correct the link ? It does not seem to work.
:D

greets,
Staf.
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: jorkany on January 02, 2011, 02:41:17 PM
(http://www.impactlab.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/floppy3.jpg)
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: slaapliedje on January 02, 2011, 02:55:52 PM
Quote from: Fats;603389
Can you correct the link ? It does not seem to work.
:D

greets,
Staf.

Oddly, when I was typing that in, I somehow KNEW someone would have said something along those lines.

I actually had been watching Supernatural a few days before, and the one brother was yelling at the other for using his laptop.  He said he hadn't been, and so he said 'well, why was it frozen on bigbustyasians.com?'  I just added in the midgets, because midgets make everything funny.

slaapliedje
Title: Re: Who the heck buys 5.25" floppies?
Post by: Amiduffer on January 02, 2011, 07:45:59 PM
Quote from: TjLaZer;603342
There are people that say the same thing to you using Amigas and 3.5" disks...


Using floppies has been an exercise in frustration these days.