INTERACT FORUM
More => Music, Movies, Politics, and Other Cheap Thrills => Topic started by: glynor on November 02, 2011, 11:30:31 am
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I just bought MC17 for my office, and actually read through the Registration Email (since I needed a receipt for our annoying Purchasing Department). This line made me chuckle:
Just save the Install Key on a floppy disk or other media, then execute it on the second PC where you have Media Center installed.
A bunch of the young lab assistants I work with at the office (you know, people who have birthdates in the late 80's or early 90's) have literally never used a floppy disk. They know what they are, in theory, I suppose... But how long till even that knowledge fades?
Might want to update that verbiage to "Save the Install Key on a USB Drive or other media" instead. ;) ;D
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The whole purchase process may also need an overhaul. At least it should be adapted to the new JRiver website design;) And the receipt mails could be presented in some kind of modern HTML format. Also the possibilities to purchase multiple licences at once and getting a proper invoice (for accounting departments or personal finance consultants). Not having to enter your personal information every time you upgrade again, would be the luxury edition! To me it really makes the impression of last millenium technology.
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My boss insisted on having a floppy drive in his laptop about 6 or 7 years ago. Instead I purchased an external USB floppy drive. He never used it. I've had to use it occasionally when upgrading the bios on a motherboard.
On a side note, I think the computer part that lasted the longest is the PS/2 connector for keyboards and mice. It was introduced in 1987 and can still be found today. My first computer was an IBM PS/2 for which the connector was named.
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We embrace our age.
What other software do you use that's going strong on version 17 ;)
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I think the saying "hard drive" came from the old west when the cowboys\drovers came in town from a "hard drive"
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We embrace our age.
What other software do you use that's going strong on version 17 ;)
The latest AutoCAD is v.18, but I don't use it. I use Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW - both are v.15. However, all three are ashamed of their age and don't use the real version number in marketing. AutoCAD is 2012, Illustrator is CS5 (from Adobe Creative Suite 5) and CorelDRAW is X5 (unlike JRiver Corel didn't have the guts to release a version 13. They named it X3 instead).
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Google Chrome is already in version 15, and by the rate they are increasing the version numbers, 17 isn't far away. ;)
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The 13th has always been lucky for me. I was 13 on Friday the 13th.
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Google Chrome is already in version 15, and by the rate they are increasing the version numbers, 17 isn't far away. ;)
Of course the release schedules vary a lot. Also Mozilla has released several "full number" Firefox versions this year.
The three software vendors I mentioned have not released a "full number version upgrade" yearly:
AutoCAD 1982-
Illustrator 1987-
CorelDRAW 1989-
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On my side of the Iron Curtain we used to call HD's "Winchesters". Was it the same on the other side?
I think the saying "hard drive" came from the old west when the cowboys\drovers came in town from a "hard drive"
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On my side of the Iron Curtain we used to call HD's "Winchesters". Was it the same on the other side?
Haha, I heard that mid to late 80's; I believe that's an IBM name though. Anyway at the time I believe I was on the same side of the said curtain as you :).
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In 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3340 "Winchester" disk drive, the first significant commercial use of low mass and low load heads with lubricated media. All modern disk drives now use this technology and/or derivatives thereof. Project head Kenneth Haughton named it after the Winchester 30-30 rifle because it was planned to have two 30 MB spindles; however, the actual product shipped with two spindles for data modules of either 35 MB or 70 MB. The name 'Winchester' and some derivatives are still common in some non-English speaking countries to generally refer to any hard disks (ie. Hungary).
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I'm feeling old. Glynor, I think I wrote that line you quoted.
j
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"insert the punch-card into the Turing Machine and ensure to reset all push-rods for a clean install"
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My floppy is 8 inches. How big is yours?
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3 1/2 but my wife loves me anyway.
I was just looking at a floppy disk notcher, I Used one oh the memories.
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My floppy is 8 inches. How big is yours?
Betcha is a collector edition, right? Signed. In dust probably :)
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Betcha is a collector edition, right? Signed. In dust probably :)
... and truly floppy.
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I used a razor blade for data entry on those cards...
"insert the punch-card into the Turing Machine and ensure to reset all push-rods for a clean install"
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I felt like the king of the world when I got my brand new double density 8" Shugart drives.
My best friend built a 200 lb solid oak desk to mount the drives and S100 computer chassis.
I rewrote every line of the drive controller bios to make it work better with CP/M.
I also purchased disassembled source code for CP/M and souped it up a little for my personal use.
I was the first Master's student at UBC to write their thesis with Wordstar on a personal computer.
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Our user group had two 8 inch Shugart drives to run there BBS system.
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I was just looking at a floppy disk notcher, I Used one oh the memories.
I remember way back in the day NEEDING one of those, and then looking up how much they cost (too much for a single use) and accomplishing the same thing with a pair of scissors.
That was a nervous few minutes though because I really NEEDED whatever it was on that floppy at the time!
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Alan Field Shugart (September 27, 1930 – December 12, 2006)
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I remember way back in the day NEEDING one of those, and then looking up how much they cost (too much for a single use) and accomplishing the same thing with a pair of scissors.
That was a nervous few minutes though because I really NEEDED whatever it was on that floppy at the time!
Regular old single hole punches did just fine - no need for no fancy tools.
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I didn't put a DVD drive into my new system until I wanted to rip a CD. OS installs from usb drives are the only way to fly. For now. Until something more convenient comes along...
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Agreed. One of my three main systems at home doesn't have an optical drive. If I ever upgrade the server to a new case, I might forgo the optical drives in that too, and just slap the BluRay burner from it into an eSATA/USB case and throw it on the shelf.
I never use them.
The HTPC has a BluRay reader. I'll keep it for the forseeable future, but it hardly ever gets used (and almost exclusively for ripping an occasional CD).
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PS. Installing an OS from a USB drive is good, but restoring from an image is even better. I try my hardest to always avoid real "clean installs" whenever possible.
I just had to do it a few times at the office though on one troublesome machine. Four installs of Windows 7 in 8 days. Fun, fun, fun...
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At work you just keep a gold copy on the SAN. Make a replay, attach it to your server and away you go.
At home I almost never reinstall.
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At work you just keep a gold copy on the SAN. Make a replay, attach it to your server and away you go.
Unfortunately, it was a unique machine. We had no image to use, and encountered one dumb issue after another (like a hard drive with bad sectors, and a video card with a very weird and intermittent, but known, BIOS bug).
PITA.
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I still have many brand new floppy disks sitting on shelves, a couple of hundreds of them.
When Best Buy was trying to get rid of them, my wife bought them (she is a good bargain hunter), with rebate so the actual cost was zero or near zero. I hope we had put that rebate to good use. Shortly after that, she was frustrated to find that computers at her work place did not have floppy disk drives. It took a while for her to get used to using an USB drive.