[BBC-Micro] Re-using floppies

[Jim Leonard]

On 3/22/2010 8:10 PM, Phill Harvey-Smith wrote:
> It would need to be for those punchout devices that where sold back in
> the early 90s to 'convert' 720K disks to 1.44MB disks by punching the
> detect hole out.

I have one sitting right here as a testament to digital flim-flam men. 
It's solid steel.  I remember the advertising:  "We formatted, read, and 
wrote this disk 30 DAYS IN A ROW without a single error!"  Yes, well, 
try to read that disk six months from now and you'll find the contents 
completely faded.

> Was this just one model of Archemedes that had this 'feature' or was it
> Acorn deciding that they could ignore the standard ?

All PS/2 Model 30-286 machines had this quirk too (completely ignored 
the detect hole and always assumed 1.44MB media).  I could never figure 
out why I couldn't read my friend's 720K disks until I burned a hole 
into it using a soldering iron on a hunch.

I continued that practice into college because I was a broke college 
student.  After losing part of an assignment due to bit fade, I started 
taping the holes back up...
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
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A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/