bjkered Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I know there was thread on the announcement of the "Death of The Floppy from Sony". Notice that the BBC recognise that Theatre lighting is an area where floppies are still used. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8646699.stm I have all ways wondered why some manufacturers have not offered an upgrade from floppies to USB. I have just upgraded my Avo Pearl 2004 to 2008 and it is great improvement and will give many more years of use, with out the frustration of failed/formatting Problems. I suppose they make more money out of selling desks (old cynic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Some of the older AVOs cannot be upgraded to USB. Pearls have to have a certain revision of the motherboard. Whether AVO operate a welcome policy of continual development, bringing new products to market (such as the rather nice looking Tiger Touch) or whether they undertake continuous revamps to make you feel your desk must be old and has to be replaced will depend upon your own worldview ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 ..I have all ways wondered why some manufacturers have not offered an upgrade from floppies to USB... As Simon says it depends on the motherboard inside the desk. If it is USB capable the problem is a minor one. However, many of the early desks using floppies didn't have that on-board and designing a box to connect the very low level of interface used by floppy disc drives, to a USB stick is an extremely complex design challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handyandi Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Like the reference to lighting desks and then the picture of a soundtracs sound desk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiLL Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Like the reference to lighting desks and then the picture of a soundtracs sound desk! To be fair the article actually says this: "The vast desks that control the light shows and sounds settings in theatres or music venues have until recently come with floppy drives as standard; the English National Opera is just one example of an organisation that uses them." (my bold) ..so they weren't being complete muppets, just a little naive about what a sound desk does perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Robinson Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Like the reference to lighting desks and then the picture of a soundtracs sound desk! ..so they weren't being complete muppets, just a little naive about what a sound desk does perhaps. Remember, the photo was probably sourced by the journalist who wrote the piece. And at the end of the day, what's the difference!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Serious question: It's not just Sony that makes them, though, is it? I thought Verbatim made their own and they haven't wound down their plant yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Verbatim are made by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation also in Japan, but they haven't said whether or not they will wind down production too. The original article I quoted, stated that Sony had 70% of the FD market, but wasn't explicit about whether that was just in Japan or worldwide. There's no doubt that floppy discs will still be around for a few years but maybe not as long as the desks which need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 There's no doubt that floppy discs will still be around for a few years but maybe not as long as the desks which need them.The box of 50 I found when I started my new job might be valuable in a few years then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 The truth is the 3½-inch, 1.44 megabyte floppy - the disk that made it big - has always defied logic. It's not floppy for a start. The term was a hangover from its precursor, the 5¼-inch floppy, which had a definite lack of rigidness about it. However, its smaller successor held 15 times as much data. I would have more respect for the article if they got some of their basic facts right: It is called a floppy disk because the medium being recorded onto (the "platter" I guess) is a floppy piece of plastic... the outside is just a case... as opposed to a hard disk, which is (strangely enough) a rigid metal platter. Sloppy reporting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 The truth is the 3½-inch, 1.44 megabyte floppy - the disk that made it big - has always defied logic. It's not floppy for a start. The term was a hangover from its precursor, the 5¼-inch floppy, which had a definite lack of rigidness about it. However, its smaller successor held 15 times as much data. I would have more respect for the article if they got some of their basic facts right: It is called a floppy disk because the medium being recorded onto (the "platter" I guess) is a floppy piece of plastic... the outside is just a case... as opposed to a hard disk, which is (strangely enough) a rigid metal platter. Sloppy reporting...Yup - someone pointed that out in a 'reader's' update at the bottom of the article as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenalien Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 At least floppy disks are better than the battery-backed memory cards that are needed for Pulsar's Masterpiece range - 32k (holds 1 MP108 show) or 128k (holds 2 MP216 shows), no longer made, and £70 each if you buy them from Pulsar - even second-hand on Ebay they fetch £25 a time - outrageous, but there's no other option - and if you don't replace the battery every few years, bang goes your data. No doubt these were 'state of the art' 20 years ago, but I can't believe that Pulsar are still selling new desks that use this obsolete technology.If someone could only come up with a converter that allowed Masterpiece desks to use CF or SD cards, or USB memory sticks instead...(and yes, I have asked Pulsar - I was left with the distinct impression that they were only interested in doing new development work on LED technology these days) :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 Floppy Disk Emulator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjkered Posted April 29, 2010 Author Share Posted April 29, 2010 Floppy Disk Emulator. Interesting, never seen one before, but this is the idea that had been going through my brain cells Looks on ther surface as a good idea for lighting desks. All those profile updates on USB Oh SOOOOOOO easy Will read more about it I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_R Posted April 30, 2010 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Serious question: It's not just Sony that makes them, though, is it? I thought Verbatim made their own and they haven't wound down their plant yet.I visited the infosec exhibition yesterday, and Verbatim were there. Just for Bryson, I visited the stand and asked the question..Whilst it was not quite what he was expecting to talk about, the gentleman from Verbatim did know what I was talking about, and did confirm that they were still manufacturing, and had no current plans to cease unlike Sony.. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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