What does George R.R. Martin and Android have in common?

[kjk]

Originally Posted by ATimson

3.5"? Or only 5.25" that you can't buy anymore? And FAT or some other format Windows can't read without a specialty program?

5.25, running CBM. The running joke at the time was the drive was actually as powerful than the actual computer (the floppy drive had a 6502 processor). It was a HUGE step up from using cassette tapes.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by ATimson

Yes, you're making it up. (WordStar, yes; C64, no. Hell, they didn't even make a C64 version of WordStar!)

Okay that makes sence. I do remember using WordStar on my old 286.

Of course his quote "WordStar is unsurpassed" made me laugh, how delusional doesn't he know VI is where it's at.

=X=

[=X=]

Originally Posted by kjk

5.25, running CBM. The running joke at the time was the drive was actually as powerful than the actual computer (the floppy drive had a 6502 processor). It was a HUGE step up from using cassette tapes.

We still use tape drives for our legacy products here at work. Every time I complain about them, the older guys say "Hey these tape drives are a huge step up from when we used punch cards" (paraphrasing a little)

=X=

[kjk]

Originally Posted by =X=

We still use tape drives for our legacy products here at work. Every time I complain about them, the older guys say "Hey these tape drives are a huge step up from when we used punch cards" (paraphrasing a little)

=X=

We have stacks of those tapes in various formats, and no convenient way of really accessing the data. Exabyte 4mm, 8mm, DAT...there is a lesson there for DRM formats somewhere I'm sure

[DiapDealer]

I think I could still track down some cassettes that have data from my TI-99/4A. I learned what little I know of x86 assembly language on that thing. I still have the third-party 5.25" floppy drive I bought for it—whose enclosure is bigger than most PC towers are today.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by ATimson

At least the DOS box you can pop out the floppy and put it into a modern Windows machine without much hassle. C64... not so much!

I have some experience with this. My dad is a hobbyist writer. He inherited my Grandpa's old computers when he died and always wrote on them. Some of his files started as Tandy files, but I was trying to get them off of a Pentium 60mhz.

Ended up with my one spare remaining floppy drive (used for installing SATA drivers on WinXP) propped on top of the system and copying the files in DOS onto a floppy (since I didn't have a working serial mouse for win 3.1) and transferring to my PC via a USB floppy drive. It's HARD to get files from a system with a non-EIDE hard drive, no usb, no network card, no CD burner, etc. UGH

Finally got all of the files off (annoying multiple versions didn't help). They were originally Wordstar on DOS, I think - DOC files but NOT WORD. Could not get them to open correctly (garbedlygook after a few pages), even with macros and converters, under Office 2007 or even OfficeXP or OpenOffice. Worked fine under Win 3.1 Write or Wordperfect ancient edition.

Finally, guess what opened them? Modern Wordperfect.

So...as far as I know, you can open Wordstar files in modern Wordperfect....lol

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

He inherited my Grandpa's old computers when he died and always wrote on them.

This makes me feel really old.

[TedJ]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

They eventually got around to making a floppy-drive peripheral for the C64.

Oh yes, I remember them... a floppy drive with a serial interface before they were cool... or fast.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by TedJ

Oh yes, I remember them... a floppy drive with a serial interface before they were cool... or fast.

RS232 rulz

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

RS232 rulz

Literally. 115200 bauds these days, but still the very first I/O device to bring up. Console over USB is rarely used.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

This makes me feel really old.

Sometimes me too, lol. If it makes you feel better, my grandpa liked tech, so I think he was in a minority of Grandfathers-with-computers in the 1990s, as far as I know.

He did better with DOS, oddly. I figure Martin is like him. My Grandpa tended to get lost in Windows 3.1...hunting through the GUI and mastering the mouse was much tougher for him than a nice list of shortcut keys and precise "type this then this" type instructions.