05-28-2004, 08:27 AM
Hey! Floppy drives are important ! :P
My DSL router is an old 486 running fli4l, a special Linux distribution that completely runs from a single floppy. I need the floppy drive in my main computer to create a new boot floppy for my router when I change the configuration once every few months.
I voluntarilly work in an Internet Cafe which provides access to computers and the net for very small fees. Most of my "customers" are underprivileged young people who don't have a computer at home at all, or only a very old one, and most of them don't know very much about using it. I frequently give floppies to the kids there so they can carry their data from the Internet Cafe to computers at school or other places. Burning a CD for every small text document would be a waste, and many of the kids don't have an email account. Also, it is often better to have the data on a physical media rather than to send it via email, not only for users who don't know how to deal with email attachments.
Floppy drives do have some important advantages:
Compatibility. Yes, my main computer is a modern machine with a CD burner, Internet access, USB ports, etc. But what do I do if I need to transfer data from this computer onto an old machine which does not have all that nifty stuff ?
Reliability. Internet access, USB, CD burners, etc, need a relatively complex OS that provides the drivers to access them. A floppy drive is accesbile under pretty much every small, basic OS which itself can be run from the floppy drive. When your machine is in a broken state, you sometimes do not have access to the network or devices like USB sticks or a CD burner. The floppy drive can be a real lifesaver in these situations. When all is broken, the floppy drive works ;-)
And floppy drives are cheap. A brand new one costs around 5 - 10⬠in Germany. There is no reason not to include them in modern computers.
My DSL router is an old 486 running fli4l, a special Linux distribution that completely runs from a single floppy. I need the floppy drive in my main computer to create a new boot floppy for my router when I change the configuration once every few months.
I voluntarilly work in an Internet Cafe which provides access to computers and the net for very small fees. Most of my "customers" are underprivileged young people who don't have a computer at home at all, or only a very old one, and most of them don't know very much about using it. I frequently give floppies to the kids there so they can carry their data from the Internet Cafe to computers at school or other places. Burning a CD for every small text document would be a waste, and many of the kids don't have an email account. Also, it is often better to have the data on a physical media rather than to send it via email, not only for users who don't know how to deal with email attachments.
Floppy drives do have some important advantages:
Compatibility. Yes, my main computer is a modern machine with a CD burner, Internet access, USB ports, etc. But what do I do if I need to transfer data from this computer onto an old machine which does not have all that nifty stuff ?
Reliability. Internet access, USB, CD burners, etc, need a relatively complex OS that provides the drivers to access them. A floppy drive is accesbile under pretty much every small, basic OS which itself can be run from the floppy drive. When your machine is in a broken state, you sometimes do not have access to the network or devices like USB sticks or a CD burner. The floppy drive can be a real lifesaver in these situations. When all is broken, the floppy drive works ;-)
And floppy drives are cheap. A brand new one costs around 5 - 10⬠in Germany. There is no reason not to include them in modern computers.