[rescue] Parallel ports [was Re: Slightly OT: ?Bad Cap Saga]

[Robert Brooke Gravitt]

On Aug 22, 2008, at 4:38 PM, Carl R. Friend wrote:

>   Well, it depends on what one it trying to keep alive in one's
> "stable".  I have plenty of "elder machines" (not really all that
> "elder" as things go) that need such artefacts if one is trying
> to "bare-metal" load them.  So, from the historian's perspective,
> especially the "operational historian", floppies are a *very*
> valuable resource, as is the capability to read/write them.
>
>   Note that the above argument also includes 5 1/4" floppies as well
> as 8" floppies (both soft- and hard- sectored).

Fair enough, but what do you do when the supply of floppies and/or  
mechanisms to repair the drives become exhausted? It's kind of like  
the discussion around SCA drives, scsi-to-ide adapters, ide-to-CF  
adapters, etc.

At some point, there's just not going to be reliable media around to  
use.