Posted on 05/26/2016 6:02:18 AM PDT by C19fan
Maybe they use the '80s flick "War Games" as a training film, too.
The U.S. Defense Department is still using — after several decades — 8-inch floppy disks in a computer system that coordinates the operational functions of the nation's nuclear forces, a jaw-dropping new report reveals.
The Defense Department's 1970s-era IBM Series/1 Computer and long-outdated floppy disks handle functions related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft, according to the new Government Accountability Office report.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Bah. No reason to advance beyond 5 1/4. Buy a notcher, and you can turn them into “flippy” drives and double your storage.
Actually they use reel to reel high speed Memorex tapes
You think they're still good after 30 years?
Better than punch cards. That’s what I started out on.
When I was in the Navy (I was a sonar tech but hugely self-taught in computers) in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s I saw a few huge floppy disks... they may have been larger than 8” floppies.
My reaction was basically, “what the f*#$ are these?”.
Upgraded from the old HP 1000s I see ...
I used to use audio cassette tapes.
The government won’t replace things that work unless they have to.
Recall the secretaries working with the Wang word processors used to use the big floppys back in the day. But that was back when some people were still using the dictation machines too.
Would probably still work today. A lot of computer “upgrades” are driven more by the need to sell technology than to improve technology.
For years the backup command and control software for missile warning satellites ran on an HP2114 with magnetic core memory, and it was tied to an old teletype for input/output. But it worked.
Hack this!
> You think they’re still good after 30 years?
If they used the good ones. If they have the magnetic oxide coated with mylar (or somesuch) rather than it being the surface material that can flake off. If that’s the case, and they don’t get used very often and being stored in a cool, dry place, the disks could well last another 50 years.
On an old Akai 4 track.
Harder to hack perhaps?
Its time to upgrade to a PDP11.
Sometimes the military uses antiquated equipment, especially software, to ensure that all the bugs and shortfalls are known and worked out. In this case, I'm wondering where they are getting their supply of 8-inch floppies.
Much of those systems are probably old Digital VAX machines, possibly even PDP-11’s. Those are unhackable.
Well, I shouldn’t say that but VERY difficult because there are only a few select of us that even would know how to anymore.
I think I’ve still got a KC and the Sunshine Band 8track they could have.
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