Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:02:16 -0800 | From | "H. Peter Anvin" <> | Subject | Re: fdutils. |
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Maciej W. Rozycki wrote:
> >>> Hmm, Sun used to have a software-controlled standard floppy drives years >>>ago... >>> >>I'm not talking about Suns. > > I'm just pointing out there used to be no problem with making a > software-controlled eject for a legacy floppy device even long ago if one > wanted to. >
Macs have had them since, what, 1984? It's never been a question of it being a problem, but it hasn't caught on on the PC.
> >>> Based on local obervations hardly anyone uses floppies anymore... They >>>are mostly used for system rescue purposes, where the kind of a device >>>doesn't really matter. >>> >>... except that you no longer can fit a reasonable system rescue/install >>setup on a floppy, so it *defintitely* matters. Also, the floppy device >>is like a rash all over the hardware; it maintains a highly undesirable >>legacy. >> > > You only confirm what I wrote -- hardly anyone uses floppies, so there is > no need to keep mechanical compatibility in devices -- a complete dump of > 1.44" FD support would be almost harmless. Hence whether a Zip or a > LS-120 -- it doesn't really matter. You need new media anyway. >
Unfortunately other people don't seem to see it that way, and so it doesn't happen. People ship USB floppies with new laptops, so there is clearly a demand for them. I believe that if LS-120 had been where the Zip drive was for a brief while, it would have stuck, just because of the compatibility issue.
-hpa
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