Geek Question
Oct. 20th, 2005 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
c9I have a floppy drive in my desktop PC at home. It uses a standard 34-pin three-connector ribbon cable to operate. It works fine, although it's rarely needed.
As part of a recent purchase, I picked up a very on-sale* rounded floppy drive 34-pin cable. Rounded cables, for those unfamiliar, look like little pipes instead of big wide ribbons, and allow better airflow. It features little bumps on the connectors to ensure correct insertion. But when I insert it, the wiring is actually backwards, so the drive no longer works. How do I know it doesn't work? The light on the drive stays on constantly, which equals a cable that's backwards on one end. The cable cannot be reversed on either end, as the slot restricts which side the bump can slide in.
Has floppy drive cabling technology changed, and I just missed it? I teach this shit, so I (a) doubt it and (b) would be really annoyed.
* foreboding?
As part of a recent purchase, I picked up a very on-sale* rounded floppy drive 34-pin cable. Rounded cables, for those unfamiliar, look like little pipes instead of big wide ribbons, and allow better airflow. It features little bumps on the connectors to ensure correct insertion. But when I insert it, the wiring is actually backwards, so the drive no longer works. How do I know it doesn't work? The light on the drive stays on constantly, which equals a cable that's backwards on one end. The cable cannot be reversed on either end, as the slot restricts which side the bump can slide in.
Has floppy drive cabling technology changed, and I just missed it? I teach this shit, so I (a) doubt it and (b) would be really annoyed.
* foreboding?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 11:24 am (UTC)Does obsolescence count as change? I'm one of three people in an office of 85 whose PC still has a floppy drive.
Meanwhile, we have a shared laptop for our department (currently two people share it, so it's not so bad). It's great, but the punchcard reader is SO unwieldy...
no subject
Date: 2005-10-21 09:59 am (UTC)