Uhm no, actually it's Eastman!
Posted on 11/29/2004 8:47:34 AM PST by Dr. Zzyzx
Could you go into a little more detail as to who does this and an approximate cost? Thanks!
Never heard of an 11" floppy and I've been in the computer biz for 30 years ... but then again, who knows, perhaps they did exist and never really made it to prime time.
Eight inch was a standard for a long time, with RadioShack I believe and then IBM's 'DataMaster' as well as their 3740 key to disk system. 5&1/4 had a much longer life time with the advent of the PC.
Print your images, line them up on a wall or bulletin board and then shoot them on motion picture film. Transfer the film to videotape as a backup and leave the tail end of the tape out.
>I also wonder about polaroid images. Are the originals made 60 years ago still stable? <
The Polaroid photos my family took in the late 1950's - early 1960's are really deteriorating. Some are almost totally destroyed.
It's a shame, too. My dad loved his Polaroid, and used it a lot to record family events.
It has been a few years since I patronized that service. This was at least 7 years ago, at the beginnng of the digital image explosion.
It was not cheap, but at the time the images I had to deal with were priceless. I am sure the cost has come down by a factor of at least 5.
The specific service I used was The Darkroom, in San Rafael, California.
Any image over 5 mb can produce a paper print as big as you'll ever need. Any good Lab can transform the electronic images to 6x6 negatives or positives. Let us know if you can find current prices. 7 years ago it was about $8 an image, if I remember correctly.
Call you local camera store and tell them you want a negative from a digital image file. They can send you to the right people. I won't guess on the price, but a phone call to a good camera store is free. :)
Apples and oranges.
The people who worry the most, like the Library of Congress and worldwide banks, are not amused by the uncertainty of the current technology. On the other hand, I am sure they would not worry if they could record the billions of daily transactions with paint on cave walls. If they could.
Does WordStar support a "print to file" format? If so you can print to a floppy.
Alternatively you rig a cable from the printer port on the old computer to the new so that the print command will send the data to the hard drive on your target computer.
Uhm no, actually it's Eastman!
I'm sorry, I forgot to add my /sarcasm tag.
I sure would like to be able to retrieve my collage work from my old 5” floppies – done on a Commodore. The trusty Commodore died, and with it the ability to read the disks.
BUMP
The most permanent solution for this problem is to print out a hex or octal dump of every single file you are keeping, and a rosetta stone file as to how to decipher the dumps, and keep that stack of paper in a nice, dry, fireproof storage safe. There you go... that will assure that archivists a thousand years from now will be able to look at your photos and other documents.
(I wonder how many trees and iron ore mines I would have to kill)
Color Polaroid images have a well known propensity for blue shift. I was one of those people who had to have the camera, and I got the folding one and spent lots of money on film packs. Great concept, I still have them, but to make them look good, I have to scan them in and Photoshop them.
My feeling is, the benefits of digital far outweigh the disadvantages, in my case at least. I am immersed in the digital end of things, I understand formats and migration.
I have my files backed up on two separate hard drives, I have them all archived and burned to DVD's which I have placed in my Safe Deposit Box at my bank.
But these are all good points people make. I will wait until the 3D Transparent Cubic storage units come out, because they will certainly last for a thousand years...:)
Print out and scan with Textbridge or a similar program.
Here is a real life solution (I hope). Basic home networks can now be set up with routers from Wal-mart. A wireless G network can now be created for less than $125. I migrated all the important files from the old machine to the new one at 54 Mbps. Now we run the two systems as backups of each other. I too don't trust digital media, but with this system, I can keep the data alive. Also, Wal-mart has free software to print pictures at the local store right from your home computer. Did the digital print at home thing, what a disaster. Now I get Fuji paper and ink and can pick them up at my convenience. One hour photos without the trip to drop stuff off. Too Cool.
Carolyn
Your ATT probably has an RS232 Port. You can use a null-modem serial cable, connect it to your PC, and send your data over the cable. Use HyperTerminal on your PC, HyperTerminal is included with every version of Windows.
Hopefully, you have a terminal proggy on your ATT. Chances are at least fair that you do.
Possibly, WordStar can print to a serial printer. If that is the case, you can still print from your ATT through your serial port. The printed files, which will likely be in "clear text" or ASCII, can be received by HyperTerminal. Save the received data to your hard drive... or copy-and-paste in to Word or whatever.
Many ancient printers were RS-232... So there is a good chance that this would work.
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