On 19/02/15 02:39, Allen Mulvey wrote:
> I currently have some floppy drives (even some magnetic core
> memory) but no machine with the correct connector to attach
> one. It looks to me that this may be the way optical drives
> are heading. What do you think?
>   =20
One of the problems with floppy drives is that they relied on specific=20
floppy controllers which were not (ttbomk) made in a PCI card form=20
(unless you count things like the catweasel but that isn't really a=20
regular floppy controller). ISA slots dissappered before onboard floppy=20
controllers did. So hooking up a regular internal floppy drive to a=20
machine without an onboard floppy controller is impractical. USB floppy=20
drives were available but I found them unreliable.

Optical drives OTOH use SATA which is the same standard as hard disks=20
and for which PCIe and USB controllers are readilly available. That=20
means you will be able to hook it up to new machines as long as at least=20
one of PCIe, USB and SATA remains a common interface.

I don't think drivers will be a big issue, the linux kernel is very good=20
about keeping drivers for older hardware around and optical drives=20
present a very generic interface to the host (though this is less true=20
of the controllers they are hooked up to).

The big downside I see in optical media is the small capacity per disc.=20
That means that verification and if needed mass-copying (whether due to=20
obscelescense or due to media rot) are going to be a lot more work than=20
with tape or HDD.
--=20
http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
.