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

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.

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.

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.

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  

All the more reason to help me read these floppies.

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

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.  

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