Gregory's Server
 99 comments
@stux I first had to explain the concept of a 'floppy disk' to my daughter but when she saw the video she immediately had to laugh!  @RL_Dane @socialkindness1 @Runa_Hellinga @stux I had one on loan in college. I nicknamed it “The Shoulder Destructor 5000” because the Mac itself was heavy, but the bag and accessories made it worse, and it was a long walk to the bus, and around campus.  @JustinDerrick @socialkindness1 @Runa_Hellinga @stux Oh man, I can't imagine lugging that guy around. @RL_Dane @socialkindness1 @Runa_Hellinga @stux Classic Mac had a more comfortable grip than the built-in handle on the Portable. Best was the late-90’s candy-coloured iBooks. @JustinDerrick @socialkindness1 @Runa_Hellinga @stux Oh yeah, I wanted one of those colorful iBook G3s so badly. Pity I didn't think to pick one up in the late naughties when they were cheap and plentiful.  @Runa_Hellinga @stux Lots of US defense still uses tape drives and VAX mainframes. I'm not kidding. I had to work on them a few years ago. SS Apple committing the dead bits to the vacuum of space. Live Long and Prosper.   @stux @donmelton Would like to see that done with a Mac and the floppy gets ejected into a metal trash can, to mimic how it was done back in the day 😅 💾➡️🚮 @stux Memories are fading, but did they just eject fully like that on earth? I feel like they would only a quarter of the way  @KellyKellyKelly @stux Without gravity, the disk doesn’t touch the bottom to creat friction.  @stux @donmelton Scott Manley did a video on this and even cleaned it up as best he could: @stux I remember this. Engineers from all over Apple made getting the Mac into space, and modifying system software so it could communicate with Earth, happen.  For everyone in the replies: This is a video from the STS-43 mission of the space shuttle Atlantis in 1991 - hence the vintage Macintosh Portable. The shuttle crew demonstrated email communications from spacecraft to ground: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19930016768/downloads/19930016768.pdf .  @stux I introduced this clip to my wife as “floppy dick ejection,” and she’s finally stopped laughing. @stux lots of young people don’t know what a floppy disk is. We were actually explaining such primitive aspects of computing to a couple of 15yr olds last night. @stux The first computer I ever programmed, before 3.5 inch floppies, it needed a cassette tape to load in programs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80 @stux A friendly reminder to always test your products in zero-gravity. You never know... 🤔  @stux I only wish the computer weren't attached to the table so we could see it slightly move in the opposite direction  @stux In Russian space station they probably used Elektronika MK-52 programmable calculator based at Z80 chip (I owned one) because the same is used by officers at their cruisers instead of fire control systems  @stux I sense thousands of millennials crying out in horror, “what is a floppy disk?” @stux me trying to dump the information I learned in 2022 but then remembering I would also dump all my video game experience with it.  @stux   @stux Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.  @stux I remember using a Mac Portable 32 years ago on the train from Yorkshire to London. The eject was pretty powerful  |
@stux I love this