#206733 - 25/02/2004 00:27
Silly computer ordering question
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
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So I'm putting a couple machines together for some people, and I've put a lot of thought and time into which components to buy, put them in nice spreadsheets to show them, catered to the types of users they are, and ended up with some good looking machines. There's one case in which I have no idea what to get for the component I'm looking for. I want to get it for their sakes, and I want it to be a decent one, not simply the cheapest I can find, unless it doesn't make a difference.
So, used any good floppy drives lately?
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Matt
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#206734 - 25/02/2004 00:31
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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No. 
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Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.
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#206735 - 25/02/2004 01:38
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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member
Registered: 22/09/2000
Posts: 195
Loc: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Skip the floppy, and buy a flash card reader that fits into the 5 1/4" slot instead, and make sure it's able to read the various types af flashcard. Throw in a USB flashcard keyring and you/they'll never look back.
\\Kaare
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#206736 - 25/02/2004 01:44
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: _hardcore_]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Yeah I know. If it were up to me, I'd leave it out. My girlfriend was very concerned about the lack of a floppy in her shuttle, because she carts files to and from the library on floppies, but she forgot about it, and she hasn't mentioned it since
But these folks want them, so I want to oblige. I mean, they want to put zip drives and a DVD burner into the same system. I think I talked them out of the zip drives, though.
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Matt
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#206737 - 25/02/2004 01:52
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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member
Registered: 22/09/2000
Posts: 195
Loc: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Yeah I know. If it were up to me, I'd leave it out. My girlfriend was very concerned about the lack of a floppy in her shuttle, because she carts files to and from the library on floppies, but she forgot about it, and she hasn't mentioned it since
But these folks want them, so I want to oblige. I mean, they want to put zip drives and a DVD burner into the same system. I think I talked them out of the zip drives, though.
I stopped using anything else than portables 5 or 6 years ago, never used a floopy since IBM put out their 8MB flash key-ring. On the last 2/3 portables i've had, i havn't even got a floppydrive to them.
\\Kaare
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#206738 - 25/02/2004 04:18
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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old hand
Registered: 20/07/1999
Posts: 1102
Loc: UK
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If you can, get a mitsumi FD. I have used/sold hundreds of floppy drives over the years (yes I know they're slow, old, and small, but at times they're the only way) and the mitsumi drives seem to have the best reliability/compatibility. The suppliers I use say the same thing.
That said, the Sony drives are fairly reasonable nowadays, and most places only seem to stock them now. They're also dirt-cheap, and available in black if you want.
pca
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Experience is what you get just after it would have helped...
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#206739 - 25/02/2004 07:16
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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I used a floppy drive this last week to flash the BIOS on my father-in-law's old Dell computer. Other than that, I haven't used one in years.
EDIT: Or is it father's-in-law? Oi, this crazy English!
Edited by Cybjorg (25/02/2004 07:17)
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#206740 - 25/02/2004 07:23
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: _hardcore_]
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old hand
Registered: 28/01/2002
Posts: 970
Loc: Manassas VA
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Skip the floppy, and buy a flash card reader that fits into the 5 1/4" slot instead, and make sure it's able to read the various types af flashcard. Throw in a USB flashcard keyring and you/they'll never look back.
I'm a big supporter of skipping floppies too, however have you ever tried to load XP onto a SATA raid? Funny thing about that, XP has NO options to load 3rd party drivers from anything other then floppy. So your thinking just get a USB floppy, and maybe theres a way around it but even after disabling floppy in bios it still comes up as b: not a: which has to be used by XP.... theres no way around it and it's my biggest peeve with microsoft right now...
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Brett
60Gb MK2a with Led's
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#206741 - 25/02/2004 08:25
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: lopan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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2nd on the Mitsumi. Great floppy drives. Good cheapy keyboards too.
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~ John
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#206742 - 25/02/2004 09:21
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
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Skip the floppy drives and buy ONE external one. (they are pretty cheap and connect through USB)
That way, compatibility is assured when you need it, and you don't have it wasting space in your new systems.
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Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup
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#206743 - 25/02/2004 10:13
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: BartDG]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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A lot of BIOS's won't boot off of a USB floppy. Especially older ones.
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~ John
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#206744 - 25/02/2004 10:53
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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On the off chance that you can find somebody selling a LS-120 drive, don't buy it. I've got a couple of them and they're all terrible for reliability. It still works as a floppy drive but they can't read the special 120MB disks anymore. All kind of partially died after about 2 years.
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#206745 - 25/02/2004 10:55
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: tman]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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And they're all IDE-based anyway, aren't they? There's some sort of trickery to make the computer think that it's a floppy drive.
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Bitt Faulk
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#206746 - 25/02/2004 10:56
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: JBjorgen]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Especially older ones.
But he's building new PCs. This isn't a problem.
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-- roger
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#206747 - 25/02/2004 10:59
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Yeah. They're connected via an IDE interface. You need support for them in the BIOS to boot off it. Windows has supported it for years now.
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#206748 - 25/02/2004 11:00
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: tman]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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I remember when I thought LS-120 drives were going to be the next big thing. Heh.
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#206749 - 25/02/2004 11:06
Re: Silly computer ordering question
[Re: Cybjorg]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Yep. Same here. That's why I've got 3 of them I've only got 5 LS-120 disks though
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