h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Zip disk may have killed the 3.5" floppy for you as a mass storage device. However, the floppy is still the easiest way to transfer data between two PCs, and will continue to be so until:

1. Everybody has Internet access and you can e-mail the stuff
2. Everbody has a Zip drive or
3. Everybody has a read/writeable CD-ROM drive.

So far I have Internet access, a floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive (read only). I also have a stack of floppies (unused) and my husband keeps giving me more (I have to wipe the data from them first). So I definitely disagree with you. The floppy will still be a while before dying!

Another point - the floppy disk is the simplest method of booting a PC when:

a) the hard disk's knackered and you need to rescue your data
b) your PC has succumbed to the 6-month Windows withering disease, where for no reason at all the performance of the machine drops off after around 6 months of use and you have to reinstall it from scratch
c) you've had enough of Windows entirely and you choose to install Linux

Azimuth

or alternativley (if you had the presnce of mind to buy apples) take one length of appletalk cable, two apple talk dongles (total price less than a fiver) plug a dongle into each computer, conect the dongles with the cable and er you have your very own network, (it can even carry a tcp/ip stack)

i've found them to be very glittery, sparkly christmas tree decorations, try it! Instant hi-tech cyber Xmas trees : all you need is
- a stack of useless cd's
- some strong glue
- some red ribbon
- a hobby drilling tool
- and last but not least : a xmas tree

Instructions :

glue the cd's together, printed sides glued to each other so the shiny sparkly bits are on the outsides
just drill a small hole in them once they're dry
tie them to the tree with some nice ribbon
et voilà, it's that simple ! Besides being decorative it's a great icebreaker at those christmas dinner parties

I don't even know what this subject is, exactly, and I haven't slept in three days, so here's what I got....
Cheerful Dragon: Very valid point. So valid that I crapped my pants when I heard it. A month ago, when I had my 25mHz PoS, I would have steadfastly agreed with you; however, I recently acquired a 600mHz Pentium III computer, and that is why my opinion has so radically changed. Sort of like how when a perfectly nice fellow gains a fortune, then he suddenly thinks that the flat tax is a pretty good idea.
Azimuth: I wish I had understood your bit there well enough to reply to it intelligently, but, as I said, my lack of sleep caught up with me right as I was reading your forum posting. Sorry.
ric: Dongles? It sounds kinda dirty, so I'll just accept it. But I must tell you, Apple scares the hell out of me. My life just wasn't the same when I first encountered the Apple IIe. Ewwwww.............
If this was not in english (or some other coherent language) then please notify me directly so that I may avoid any other such embarrassing mistakes.

Dongles aren't dirty, although they do sound it. A dongle is a device provided by the manufacturers of certain types of software to prevent illegal copies being used. The dongle plugs into one of the serial ports on the machine. (It has a matching output at the rear so that you don't lose the use of that port.) The software checks for its presence before running. If the software detects the dongle, the software will run. Otherwise it will complain and quit. Manufacturers provide one dongle per copy of the software.

Okay, Cheerful Dragon, though you did explain that, take a look at the explanation itself, and see if *snicker* that doesn't sound just a bit dirty. By the way, I still haven't had any sleep! Hahahahahahahaahahahhaahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
Argh!

Sorry to hear that! If you are an insomniac, see a doctor - or a psychiatrist. If it's work related, talk to your boss (if you can). If it's your kids (I understand that babies can be hell, especially when teething), leave the house and rent a hotel room for a night or two. (But don't expect your wife to be there when you get back). Otherwise, try going to bed some time. Or the floor would do, with a pillow and sleeping bag / blanket.

Ah, thanks! Even though not a lot of that advice helps, I'm glad that someone cares! I have since slept twice since my last posting here, for a combined total of 12 hours. You see, I usually function on a 36-hour day, getting the most out of my hours by spending 24 awake and 12 asleep (this is the same for a "normal" person in ratios; 16 awake:8 asleep), but something recently happened with my body that makes me only need 6 hours of sleep within the span of 72 hours, which I don't understand. I'm more healthy than ever, so I'm sure there's no health risk. Oh, the reason I was up for over 72 hours just a while back was that I was having one of periods when a lot of fun stuff is happening and you can't, in good conscience, just say "well, it's time to go to bed."

I don't think I have ever had ANYTHING happen that was so enjoyable that I refused to go to bed. Either my life is very boring (personally I don't think so), or I'm prepared to give a good night's sleep the priority it deserves (which is more likely). Having said that, I will stay up till the wee small hours playing Civilization II or Populous, but only at the weekend!

Hope you get a good dose of sleep soon!

My I suggest that you also put the CD player in the freezer therefore increasing the sound quality over a period of time.

You could also move the entire Home Entertainmant system you have into a freez-room - that should defenatly help the quality.

At the end of December, just switching off the heating ought to have a similar effect.

That really depands on where you live, isn't it?
I mean, anywhere on the south hemisphire, or in other warm parts of the world, switching off the heat will defenatly not have a similar effect.

Well, yes, I was thinking a bit parochially there. Like, I'm still a bit new to this, but I will try and remember that "world-wide" bit. One exchanges views with somebody, vaguely assuming that they're within a hundred miles or so, and then discovers that they are right round the far side of the globe - it all adds to the fun. Anyway, if one happens to be in the northern hemisphere and fairly well away from the equator, then maybe one's floppy discs and other relatively high-tech stuff will work better if we turn of the heating and sit around in our best warm cardigans and a scarf or two? Not wound up too high around the neck, or the sound may start to get obscured...

1. First of all, they could one day become a collecter's item! Why not collect them all: AOL, AOL 2.0, AOL 4.0, AOL platinum, AOL 4.99999......
2 .Bookmarks
3. Doorstops
4. Crunchy snacks!
5. Mirrors (watch out for the little hole!)
6. Wallpaper
7. Frisbys
8. Cut the edges into a jaged shape, and you now have a first class throwing weapon!
9. Clothing, shoes, fashion exsessories.....
10. Hotplates
11. Heck, regular plates!
12. Use your imagination. The usefulness of AOL (and MSIE) CDs is neverending.


Skeeve

Of course, that is not where AOL CDs out-live their usefulness. The specified CDs have a wealth of things that can be done to them:
1. First of all, they could one day become a collecter's item! Why not collect them all: AOL, AOL 2.0, AOL 4.0, AOL platinum, AOL 4.99999......
2 .Bookmarks
3. Doorstops
4. Crunchy snacks!
5. Mirrors (watch out for the little hole!)
6. Wallpaper
7. Frisbys
8. Cut the edges into a jaged shape, and you now have a first class throwing weapon!
9. Clothing, shoes, fashion exsessories.....
10. Hotplates
11. Heck, regular plates!
12. Use your imagination. The usefulness of AOL (and MSIE) CDs is neverending.


Skeeve

Hey, I've a few AOL CDs! I've tried the bit with using them as makeshift frisbees, and that was fun, fun, fun! I did the same thing with a Johnny Mathis CD once, though, and ended up breaking it. Oh well.

That's why we use useless CDs, such as AOLs, MSes and dows you get in all thouse compo* meetings and such.