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General >> Rally >> Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
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Message started by DaveP on 12/02/8 at 00:29:10

Title: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by DaveP on 12/02/8 at 00:29:10

Jim Rand, (a past Editor of On Route,) died a few months ago. I have received from his sister, dozens? (hundreds?) of 5.25" floppy disks with On Route articles, plus I assume complete newsletters, dating to the early 1990's. (I have a large file boxe full of floppies.)

Does anyone, (I am probably appealing to members of a mature age shall we say,) have an old computer with a working 5.25" floppy drive?

These floppies are invaluable to MLRC. Anyone who read On Route fifteeen years ago knows EXACTLY! what I mean.

Dave Paisley

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Wedge on 12/02/8 at 09:05:25

It shouldn't be too hard to dig up an old drive. Hopefully those disc's are still after all this time...

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by xrian on 12/02/8 at 11:53:11

I might be able help but it will have to wait until I get home from work. I have an old 486 in the bsmt but not sure if it had a 5.25 drive. Either way, I'm sure I can get my hands on one.
I will let you know as soon as possible.

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Anthony_T on 12/02/8 at 12:19:35

a) this is exactly why people should print their digital photographs. Technology evolves, sometimes even improves but often makes the old very difficult to keep using.

b) we can use things for the retro column of OnRoute. People may get tired of me running very old rally related advertisements, as cool as I may thing they are.

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Jeff_Hagan on 12/02/8 at 15:35:27

DaveP wrote on 12/02/8 at 00:29:10:

I think this may be the first time I've fallen into the category "of a mature age". :)

I used to, but all those computers are now defunct. However, I think my Mom still has a number of old PCs - my Dad had a habit of tearing apart his computers to make them better, but she may still have something that's still in running order with a 5.25" drive. If not, she may have a 5.25" drive that can be slapped into something without too much fuss.

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Jeff_Hagan on 12/02/8 at 15:37:40

Anthony_T wrote on 12/02/8 at 12:19:35:

a) this is exactly why people should print their digital photographs. Technology evolves, sometimes even improves but often makes the old very difficult to keep using.

I agree.

I remember reading an article a few years ago about this problem. The example scenario they used was a technologically-minded person in the 1970s writing his will on punchcards, which then had to be read in present day.

Of course, still, I've got masses of digital photos on my computer that I haven't printed yet. ;D

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by DaveP on 12/02/8 at 21:45:37

Thanks Guys! Let me know if someone comes up with something.

Believe it or not, 5.25" floppy drives are difficult to come by. Ebay has lots in the US, but none in Canada. To have to buy one, pay the exchange, plus get hosed on shipping, seems criminal. I asked at a few local used computer parts stores, and they looked at me like I was a Martian. :-/ (Frankly, I think most of the kids at these stores, have never seen, or heard of 5.25" floppy drives.)

I've got an old Pll that I can fit it into. Jim did everything in WP 5.1 (DOS), which I still have. It's a winter project that will easily keep me out of trouble.

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by DaveC on 12/02/8 at 22:58:03

I think my mom has an old 75 MHz Pentium that has a 5.25" floppy drive. I will check the next time I am down there.

Do you just need the drive pulled and shipped to you?

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by jgardhouse on 12/02/8 at 23:54:58

I think I'm the only person my age with a 486 that sees regular use. No 5.25 in that puppy though :-?

I have a minty fresh Atari kicking around too ;D

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Robin_Fleguel on 12/03/8 at 12:50:13

j_gardhouse wrote on 12/02/8 at 23:54:58:

I think I'm the only person my age with a 486 that sees regular use. No 5.25 in that puppy though :-?

I have a minty fresh Atari kicking around too ;D

Whoa. A 2600? Envy...

Somewhere in those archives is an article about Pines that refers to 'the Fleguels running their old orange 510 on Canadian Tire retreads'. Funny stuff (510s weren't cool back then. To be cool you needed an RX-7 hehehe (that's irony BTW))

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by DaveP on 12/04/8 at 01:06:58

All the more reason to help me read these floppies.

Most teams are known for their past shenanigans, not their current.

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by xrian on 12/04/8 at 09:24:47

I'm still trying. Mine didn't have one.

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Jeff_Hagan on 12/04/8 at 11:08:41

DaveP wrote on 12/02/8 at 21:45:37:

I checked with my Mom - she's got a working 5.25" drive that's not installed in any computer. I've got a couple machines that I could put it in.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to hand it out on long-term loan to you - some of my parents' older business records are still on 5.25" floppy, so she needs it in case of the faint possibility that she has to access them. However, if you want, I could take the disks and convert them to another format.

Just think, though: it could be worse. Imagine if the newsletters were stored on cassette tape or 8" floppy, both of which were options on the first computer my family got: a TRS-80. :o

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Robert Roaldi on 12/05/8 at 13:40:04

Hi Dave,

I still have a Pentium machine with a 5 1/4. I haven't booted it in a couple of years, but I can try. It doesn't have a network card, though, or a CD burner so I am not sure what I could do with the data after having read it.

I suppose I could do a serial-to-serial file transfer using a old comms utility (that no one under 40 would even know about) and transfer the files to my W2K box that does have a burner.

With that many floppies, it's going to be a long boring job. Keep them dry and out of the sun. From my experience half of them will be unreadable.

Robert

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Robert Roaldi on 12/05/8 at 13:42:23

Hi Dave (again),

Just thought of something else. I am limited use to you here in Ottawa. But I wonder if Keith Thompson would be interested in the club archive work. He's a computer guy and retired. Living near Kitchener now, though, but that's closer than Ottawa.

Robert

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by Tom_H on 01/21/9 at 19:43:22

Curious if anyone has been able to sort out the files, really looking forward to seeing some of the copies.
Tom

Title: Re: Jim Rand, On Route, 5.25 floppy disks
Post by DaveP on 01/21/9 at 20:59:26

Hi Tom,

I located a 5.25" drive, but haven't tested it yet. (The price was right . . , free, but I bet it hasn't been used for ten years.) I have an old Win 98 Pll computer I plan to install it into. I'll pick up some old HD, set it up as a slace, and copy the files to it for posterity.

The floppies are sitting safe and sound, well sealed in a poly file box. I am curious as well. Those old On Route articles are classics!

Dave