Nightfox wrote to boraxman <=-

Re: Re: Is a PC optical drive a "player"?
By: boraxman to Nightfox on Fri Apr 25 2025 01:35 pm

Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they should be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".

Doesn't "disk" refer to the actual round platter(s) inside it? I
always thought it was called a "drive" because it's a device that
drives the motion of the disks, similar to how a screwdriver is used to "drive" the screw into the wood by turning it.

Also I've never heard the term "Winchester" for a storage device..?

Yes, the disk is the disk inside, and the drive, drives it. But "Hard
Disk" and "Hard Drive" are used interchangeably, both correct in a
way.

My point is that "cd player" is fine, if its a CD-ROM drive that
doesn't also burn disks.

Winchester was a type of hard disk.

From Wikipedia...

Also in 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3340 "Winchester" disk drive and
the 3348 data module, the first significant commercial use of low mass
and low load heads with lubricated platters and the last IBM disk
drive with removable media. This technology and its derivatives
remained the standard through 2011. 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.[14] The name
'Winchester' and some derivatives are still common in some non-English speaking countries to generally refer to any hard disks (e.g. Hungary, Russia).

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Quoting Stormtrooper to Nigel Reed <=-

only play from it. That said, not sure where the term "drive" comes
from because hard drives don't really go any where. Then again, where
are 3 1/2" disks called floppies because they're not floppy at all. So

I suspect... that hard drive is a throw back to them good old days
when your HD was the size of a fridge and you had to install the
platters in it. In a real sense you inserted platters into the drive mechanism. Probably hung on after the platters became integrated and
the devices much smaller..

Every mechanical (non solid state) drive has platters. And they also
have heads in them, but unlike some peoples fridge where the head's
don't move - the ones in the hard drive do.

I know, I know.

Booo.

... Climate: what we expect. Weather: what we get.

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Quoting Stormtrooper to Slacker <=-

KB vs KiB, etc

For a good portion of my life I remember KB=1024 bytes. The past 10
years or so, its now KB bytes and a KiB is 1024 bytes.

I was under the impression, that your KB is still 1024 bytes, while
the KiB is the decimalised version being 1000 bytes...

From what I've read...

It's actually the opposite. A KiB (kibbibyte) is 1024 bytes while a KB (kilobyte) is 1000 bytes. (according to the IEC)

But who's mincing words.

... Press <Alt-A> to Adopt Me! I need a better home.

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Quoting Nightfox to Stormtrooper <=-

I suspect... that hard drive is a throw back to them good old days when your HD was the size of a fridge and you had to install the platters in it. In a real sense you inserted platters into the drive mechanism. Probably hung on after the platters became integrated and the devices much smaller..

I always thought it's called a "drive" because it's the device that "drives" the movement of the discs, similar to how a scrwdriver is the tool that "drives" the movement of a screw when you turn it.

Oh no, we're not back to that park on driveway and drive on parkway
question are we? :)

... Bread can lead to harder stuff like baguettes and croissants!!!

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Quoting Boraxman to Nightfox <=-

I think the problem may be if the "player" is also a "burner". If its
not, then perhaps its a way to distinguish between a drive which can
only real, and one which is read-write.

Boraxman - I think you are correct about the understanding part...

You - my friend are a real 'Playa'!

If you get my meaning!

... I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' TAGLINE

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Quoting Boraxman to Nightfox <=-

Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they
should be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".

I guess for me it goes back to when I was only able to use "Floppy
Disks" on my C64, I really, really wanted an LT Kernal "Hard Disk". I
had never heard of the Winchester, only the LT Kernal and had dreams of
buying one instead of waiting 30 days for my 1541 to load Jumpman.


... It's a chain saw. I always carry one for emergencies.

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Quoting Boraxman to Mortar M. <=-

I recall seeing some advertisements or articles in old magazines,
where they were called Winchesters, or something to that effect. Or a Winchester type drive.

Yes, I associate Winchesters with guns. I wonder if there is a Beretta
10M hard drive, and a Smith and Wesson 42M drive.

I do recall seeing how to 'delete' a hard drive with a Beretta...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iUkkpy3JdOU

... Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives

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Quoting Poindexter Fortran to Xqtr <=-

xqtr wrote to Nightfox <=-

Back in the 90s, i had a 386 machine, which had a CDROM... that device
was only to use with the PC and read data or music. To listen music
from an audio CD, you needed to power on the PC and use some software
to play the audio...

Proprietary CD-ROM drives from the 90's - bad flashbacks! Either
playing audio through tinny tiny underpowered speakers or through your Walkman headphones if you had your computer on the desk. Otherwise, the cord wasn't long enough and you were out of luck.

Most of them also had an internal connector so you could plug it into
your Soundblaster card and get some decent tunes from your Pioneer
headphones - albeit with twisty phone corded wired connection. My
Soundblaster with surround sound logitech speakers (with booming base
box) was the shizzle back then. So the music from my propietary CD-ROM
was 'kickin' some beats.

(sorry back to the present)

... Not much is worse than being peerless in a peer-review system.

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Quoting Poindexter Fortran to Roon <=-

We're on an express elevator, going DOWN!

Hudson - run a bypass...


... All I need is a Wave and a board to surf it on.

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Re: Re: Is a PC optical drive
By: Cougar428 to NIGHTFOX on Sat Apr 26 2025 08:17 am

Howdy,

Oh no, we're not back to that park on driveway and drive on parkway
question are we? :)

Or as my kids recently asked me.

Why is it that a package transported by a car is called a "shipment", but a package transported by a ship is called "cargo"?

:)



...δεσ∩
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Cougar428 wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-

Most of them also had an internal connector so you could plug it into
your Soundblaster card and get some decent tunes from your Pioneer headphones - albeit with twisty phone corded wired connection. My Soundblaster with surround sound logitech speakers (with booming base
box) was the shizzle back then. So the music from my propietary CD-ROM
was 'kickin' some beats.

Subwoofers were the thing back then. Now, my hearing isn't the greatest,
I'd rather use headphones. Also they help block out home office noise -
barking dogs, leaf blowers, etc.

I've convinced my son to wear hearing protection to concerts, hopefully
he continues to do so.



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Cougar428 wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-

We're on an express elevator, going DOWN!

Hudson - run a bypass...

I feel fortunate to be surrounded by my people.




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Cougar428 wrote to boraxman <=-

Quoting Boraxman to Nightfox <=-

I think the problem may be if the "player" is also a "burner". If its
not, then perhaps its a way to distinguish between a drive which can
only real, and one which is read-write.

Boraxman - I think you are correct about the understanding part...

You - my friend are a real 'Playa'!

If you get my meaning!

Are you calling me a beach??


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Cougar428 wrote to boraxman <=-

Quoting Boraxman to Nightfox <=-

Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they
should be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".

I guess for me it goes back to when I was only able to use "Floppy
Disks" on my C64, I really, really wanted an LT Kernal "Hard Disk". I
had never heard of the Winchester, only the LT Kernal and had dreams of buying one instead of waiting 30 days for my 1541 to load Jumpman.

Disk? I started with the tape drive. Got a disk drive because a
friend lent me one. Try waiting 5 minutes for things to load from
tape. I'd just sometimes switch the channel and watch TV, then switch
back, unless the load music and screen was really cool.

I've still got a working 1570 disk drive. Really slow, but so
satisfying to use.

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But, kosher salt is a conspiracy by THE MAN to get us to stop taking
iodized salt in an attempt to make us MORE SUSCEPTIBLE to cancer and therefore maximize profits for the MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.

I thought it was to turn everyone Jewish? :O

Oh, isn't this the CONSPIRACY echo?

Oh, yeah, you are right.


* SLMR 2.1a * I wish Noah had swatted those two mosquitoes.....
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Quoting Neoshock to Nigel Reed <=-

Actually Hard Drives do go some where, eventually to the trash after
about 5 years

Guess I'm livin' on borrowed time then. My Seagate IDE 585mb drive
from 1989 just keeps on tickin'...

I did buy a couple spares, but have never had to use them. I also back
it up with an HP 400/800MB tape drive and Colorado backup DOS - JIC.

Have a great day!


... Asphault = Proctologist's malpractice insurance

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Cougar428 wrote to NEOSHOCK <=-

I did buy a couple spares, but have never had to use them. I also back
it up with an HP 400/800MB tape drive and Colorado backup DOS - JIC.

And now I'm hearing the sound of a QIC drive hooked up to a floppy
controller. Fwuuuuuuup.... Fwuuuuuuuup... long pause... fweeeeeeeep...
And so on, for hours. Damn, those things were slow.

I got lucky that my employer rapidly went from DDS to DDS-2, then DDS-2
to DDS-3, and I got the previous generation, along with a SCSI card.




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Quoting Poindexter Fortran to Cougar428 <=-

Most of them also had an internal connector so you could plug it into
your Soundblaster card and get some decent tunes from your Pioneer headphones - albeit with twisty phone corded wired connection. My Soundblaster with surround sound logitech speakers (with booming base
box) was the shizzle back then. So the music from my propietary CD-ROM
was 'kickin' some beats.

Subwoofers were the thing back then. Now, my hearing isn't the
greatest, I'd rather use headphones. Also they help block out home
office noise - barking dogs, leaf blowers, etc.

Maybe I shouldn't but I feel it's my duty to tell you that you
shouldn't use leaf blowers in your house. Speaking from experience,
they rile up alot of dust. ;/

I've convinced my son to wear hearing protection to concerts,
hopefully he continues to do so.

When I was 16 I went to a concert where Heart was the main event. It was
in the city colosseum and the speaker towers were accessible. I remember
climbing into one of them during the concert. Uhhgg. Now I wonder why I
can't hear the TV when it's 3 feet away from me.

True story, feel free to share it with your son.

... Crime does not pay... as well as politics.

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Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

I think the problem may be if the "player" is also a "burner". If its
not, then perhaps its a way to distinguish between a drive which can
only real, and one which is read-write.

Boraxman - I think you are correct about the understanding part...

You - my friend are a real 'Playa'!

If you get my meaning!

Are you calling me a beach??

If the umbrella fits, a whale of a beach!

Uh oh - Flame wars! (easy there, just kidding)

... ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI.

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Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they
should be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".

I guess for me it goes back to when I was only able to use "Floppy
Disks" on my C64, I really, really wanted an LT Kernal "Hard Disk". I
had never heard of the Winchester, only the LT Kernal and had dreams of buying one instead of waiting 30 days for my 1541 to load Jumpman.

Disk? I started with the tape drive. Got a disk drive because a
friend lent me one. Try waiting 5 minutes for things to load from
tape. I'd just sometimes switch the channel and watch TV, then switch back, unless the load music and screen was really cool.

I've still got a working 1570 disk drive. Really slow, but so
satisfying to use.

Full circle, why is it called a disk instead of a disc? That really
bugs me! :^P

... Do what you will with this tagline, just don't bother me about it!

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Are you calling me a beach??

A bit gritty and sandy?

ST

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Full circle, why is it called a disk instead of a disc? That really
bugs me! :^P

That one is Geographically driven... that dud US english prescribes a K while the original UK prescribes or did the C... back in the 70s we got both versions here. The C has mostly disappeared.. I still use it though...

ST

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Cougar428 wrote to boraxman <=-

Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

I think the problem may be if the "player" is also a "burner". If its
not, then perhaps its a way to distinguish between a drive which can
only real, and one which is read-write.

Boraxman - I think you are correct about the understanding part...

You - my friend are a real 'Playa'!

If you get my meaning!

Are you calling me a beach??

If the umbrella fits, a whale of a beach!

Uh oh - Flame wars! (easy there, just kidding)

Now I'm lost!

It's been a while since I've participated in a good old fashioned flame war, but
its something I'm happy to pass on, for the moment...

Better to be a whale of a beach, than a beached whale.


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Cougar428 wrote to boraxman <=-

Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they
should be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".

I guess for me it goes back to when I was only able to use "Floppy
Disks" on my C64, I really, really wanted an LT Kernal "Hard Disk". I
had never heard of the Winchester, only the LT Kernal and had dreams of buying one instead of waiting 30 days for my 1541 to load Jumpman.

Disk? I started with the tape drive. Got a disk drive because a
friend lent me one. Try waiting 5 minutes for things to load from
tape. I'd just sometimes switch the channel and watch TV, then switch back, unless the load music and screen was really cool.

I've still got a working 1570 disk drive. Really slow, but so
satisfying to use.

Full circle, why is it called a disk instead of a disc? That really
bugs me! :^P

Any why are they called bugs, when they are errors? That bugs me too!


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Disk? I started with the tape drive. Got a disk drive because a
friend lent me one. Try waiting 5 minutes for things to load from
tape. I'd just sometimes switch the channel and watch TV, then switch back, unless the load music and screen was really cool.

I totally forgot that you could simply change the channel on your monitor, as it was simply your TV. It's kinda like watching a Youtube stream while you are messing about with you PC :)

Lloyd (neoshock) sysop @ Classic Computing BBS
bbs.classiccomputing.net

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Any why are they called bugs, when they are errors? That bugs me too!

Actually, one of the first computer bugs in those big ass computers was actually created by a bug (a moth or something like that) which cased errors. They literally removed the bug and taped it to a log book and called it something like the first computer bug.

Lloyd (neoshock) sysop @ Classic Computing BBS
bbs.classiccomputing.net

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Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

Full circle, why is it called a disk instead of a disc? That really
bugs me! :^P

Any why are they called bugs, when they are errors? That bugs me too!

Errors really irritate me!
(tag, your it)


... All I need is a Wave and a board to surf it on.

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Quoting Poindexter Fortran to Cougar428 <=-

Cougar428 wrote to NEOSHOCK <=-

I did buy a couple spares, but have never had to use them. I also back
it up with an HP 400/800MB tape drive and Colorado backup DOS - JIC.

And now I'm hearing the sound of a QIC drive hooked up to a floppy controller. Fwuuuuuuup.... Fwuuuuuuuup... long pause...
fweeeeeeeep... And so on, for hours. Damn, those things were slow.

My HP drive is parallel so it may be even slower than the floppy
controller units, but it has worked flawlessly. I regularly run 4 tapes
with full backups and no compression. Not sure why, as there's not much
that's important on the drive (except Wordstar, Lotus 123, Grandview 2
and dBase III+ and of course Blue Wave.

... Junk: stuff we throw away. Stuff: junk we keep.

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On 28 Apr 2025 at 07:09p, Cougar428 pondered and said...

Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

Full circle, why is it called a disk instead of a disc? That really
bugs me! :^P

Any why are they called bugs, when they are errors? That bugs me too

Errors really irritate me!
(tag, your it)

And irritation leads me to make errors. Its a vicious circle.

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Quoting Boraxman to Cougar428 <=-

Full circle, why is it called a disk instead of a disc? That really
bugs me! :^P

Any why are they called bugs, when they are errors? That bugs me too

Errors really irritate me!
(tag, your it)

And irritation leads me to make errors. Its a vicious circle.

You win! I'm chasing my tail...

... Exercise your right to arm and keep bears!

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