Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

    Interesting. I wonder if this is truly out of concern over hackers or what. Seems like an awful lot of money spent on maintaining an obsolete system, and makes me wonder what else is hidden away from the 'net in general.


    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-can...ource=facebook
    sigpic
    Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

    #2
    Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

    This doesn't shock me. IT upgrades are costly, a number of organizations hold on to old systems as long as they function. Granting that continued use of 70s era tech is overdoing it a bit but it still isn't terribly shocking.
    life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

    Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

    "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

    John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

    "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

    Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


    Comment


      #3
      Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

      I still write important things on paper in a notebook, but I'm not the gov't. I have a box full of old floppies in my desk drawer, now that I think of it.
      sigpic
      Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

        I wonder if they are the old, big floppies that really are floppy, or the later non-floppy floppies?
        Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

          Article was talking 8 inchers which are before my time. I've seen 5.25 and 3.whatever-the-hell but never dealt with 8s.
          life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

          Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

          "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

          John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

          "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

          Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


          Comment


            #6
            Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

            Little story. A friend that retired from the Navy and was an IT person,got a Job with Alameda naval air in California to upgrade their systems. The job was supposed to last at most a year. He retired from the navy at 50 something,and retired from that system upgrade job at 66. For each and every simple change,he had to send a report up the chain of command and wait for it to return before he could make the change. Mainly it took 3-4 months to process each one,and that is why he worked that job for over 15 years..and the full upgrade never really happened.
            MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

            all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
            NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
            don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




            sigpic

            my new page here,let me know what you think.


            nothing but the shadow of what was

            witchvox
            http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

            Comment


              #7
              Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

              These are the ones I have - they are 3.5". Someday I should repurpose that little plastic box they're in, (but I'm not sure what for!) These were my dad's so they are pre-2001. I remember him having the older, larger ones, and back in the late 1960's/early 70's, those plastic templates to draw flow charts with.

              rsz_floppies (1).jpg
              sigpic
              Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                If you wonder,there used to be punch cards for programming. You would run a DECK through a reader to have the main frame run said program...The DECK was the equivalent of a floppy holding data...

                These cards.


                - - - Updated - - -

                There was also a process of plugging jumpers into different slots to program as well.
                Could not find a good graphic to show.
                Mainly you did the jumpers in a pattern depending what you need the system to do.

                There could be about 20-40 slots depending on the system.

                - - - Updated - - -

                Something like this.


                - - - Updated - - -

                The first build it yourself hobby kit computer by Heathkit


                A bit more hands on back in those days. Think IKEA for computers...

                - - - Updated - - -

                Here is a pic of how you interacted with the system,called a teletype it printed out its replys.
                Last edited by anunitu; 26 May 2016, 07:54.
                MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                sigpic

                my new page here,let me know what you think.


                nothing but the shadow of what was

                witchvox
                http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                  While in college, my roommate taking computer programming had to do punch cards. Yup... I do be old.

                  When I took computer graphics for my teaching art degree, I have to plot dots on a McIntosh to make a picture that looked light light-bright.
                  Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                    Yeh you do be old,but compared to me you are just a young sprout...
                    MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                    all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                    NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                    don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                    sigpic

                    my new page here,let me know what you think.


                    nothing but the shadow of what was

                    witchvox
                    http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                      Dad had the punch cards - I remember playing with them. He was an AT&T lifer so he rode that wave from the beginning. He used to build Heathkit stuff for fun - my record player, a color tv, etc. He brought home one of these kinds of modems in the 70's:

                      Phone-Modem.jpg

                      It's really cool how all this stuff has evolved so much!
                      sigpic
                      Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                        I agree,and I have gone from party lines to cell phones..The little calculators really caught my eye at the time,I was amazed...also cable and MTV..man I am old...

                        That was known as an acoustic coupler,as seen here.


                        - - - Updated - - -

                        I am old and remember these old school Ma Bell ten pound phones.
                        Last edited by anunitu; 26 May 2016, 08:44.
                        MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                        all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                        NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                        don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                        sigpic

                        my new page here,let me know what you think.


                        nothing but the shadow of what was

                        witchvox
                        http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                          We had that phone when I was a kid. They were hard-wired into the house and belonged to the phone co. I remember how amazing I thought it was when phones started being sold in stores. My mother had a special pencil to dial with that wouldn't mess up a manicure. Looked just like this -
                          dialpencil.jpg

                          I wonder if the gov't. is still using some of those old phones anywhere. It wouldn't surprise me - they're more hack proof than today's.
                          sigpic
                          Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                            When I was in high school I used diskettes. When I was a child I used floppy disks to play video games on a computer and I knew how to use code to access what was in the disks. Now since everything is easy I forgot. I'm not surprised either. However, I think an update is very good for them.
                            Anubisa

                            Dedicated and devoted to Lord Anubis and Lady Bast. A follower of the path of Egyptian Wicca.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

                              Dos could be intimidating for some users,it was text driven,and you had to remember many key words,and have your dos manual right there to refer to. Windows was a BIG game changer,point and click...I did go online in the very early days using a dos text browser(That was on the WELL)

                              See the WELL here.

                              That was also where "The whole earth catalog" was from,if you are old enough to remember that.
                              MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                              all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                              NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                              don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                              sigpic

                              my new page here,let me know what you think.


                              nothing but the shadow of what was

                              witchvox
                              http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X