Show threadEthan BlackJan 30
@ipxfong Wow, glad to hear it!
+ I have those same headphones
What is that blue box on the left? It looks interesting too.
Edit: and is that a serial mouse?? I've always wanted one for my Haiku setup. (A good old Dell #D630 .)
Show threadEthan BlackDec 5
@evan I was going to say that that number depends on the laptop, but I actually happen to have 4 on both my daily drivers. A #System76 #ServalWS , and a Dell #D630 from 15 to 20 years ago.
The Dell runs #HaikuOS and I use it for taking notes. Haiku works really well for that, actually.
Show threadEthan BlackNov 9

@ossobuffo Well, here's a video of me booting it :) https://video.hardlimit.com/w/c7eesvEKFLkgrn9uCKHDbx

I think it does have CDROM.SYS. Though note that since I have my #D630 's CD/DVD drive replaced with the FDDM-101 #floppyDrive module, there's no CD/DVD drive connected.

Booting from a Windows 98 SE floppy disk

PeerTube
Ethan BlackNov 9

Booting from a Windows 98 SE floppy disk

https://video.hardlimit.com/w/c7eesvEKFLkgrn9uCKHDbx

Booting from a Windows 98 SE floppy disk

PeerTube
Show threadEthan BlackSep 12, 2025
@rl_dane
Why:
(Context: part of https://fosstodon.org/@golemwire/115008329976889834 and https://fosstodon.org/@golemwire/115022700783931624 )
I love the #diskette *form factor*. Large enough to label and hold comfortably without losing them, or scratching them like discs.
I know floppies are very outdated, being slow and very low-capacity, but I'm mostly storing text. I was able to get 38 in apparently good condition for a dollar at a garage sale, and my trusty (sorta, it's old!) Dell #D630 had an FDD module available for not too much money.
Ethan Black (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Picked up some #floppyDisk​s at a #garageSale for a buck! I also bought a floppy drive for my trusty Dell #D630 laptop's module bay. I'll be taking class notes on these... or at least backing my notes up to them so the drive doesn't make too much noise during class when I save. So... which of these might be unreliable? Sony, #Fujifilm , TDK, #Maxell ? The 2nd one in my hand doesn't have any brand labeling... gonna save that for unimportant stuff. #floppyDiskSquad #lowTech #DellD630

Fosstodon
Show threadEthan BlackSep 4, 2025
@krishean Oh that's neat. I have a 15 year old Dell #D630 laptop I use for college notetaking, and I'm pretty sure it has an 16:10 ratio.
Ethan BlackAug 19, 2025
@mms I am fortunate enough to have a few old laptops which can run Haiku with workable hardware support.
My main #HaikuOS machine is my Dell #D630 . If you really want a Haiku laptop you could pick one of those up off of eBay and install it. They're like 15 years old but are 64-bit, etc.
Ethan BlackAug 13, 2025

I got the #floppy drive for my Dell #D630 !

First try booting the Windows 98 boot disk in my other post failed due to an I/O error, but all other attempts have worked (it booted up :O ).

#HaikuOS doesn't work well with it right now. Research turned up the fact that Haiku has a "usb_floppy" driver, however, and the D630 seems to use USB in its module bay. Digging around in /dev, I found a char special file for the device (see alt text).

#FloppyDiskSquad #floppyDisk #retroComputing #lowTech

Ethan BlackAug 11, 2025

Picked up some #floppyDisk​s at a #garageSale for a buck!

I also bought a floppy drive for my trusty Dell #D630 laptop's module bay. I'll be taking class notes on these... or at least backing my notes up to them so the drive doesn't make too much noise during class when I save.

So... which of these might be unreliable? Sony, #Fujifilm , TDK, #Maxell ?
The 2nd one in my hand doesn't have any brand labeling... gonna save that for unimportant stuff.

#floppyDiskSquad #lowTech #DellD630

Show threadEthan BlackAug 10, 2025

@rl_dane
I've always wanted to view "applications" as just "file drivers", but modern OSes seem to never do that.
Come to think of it, I think this is the main reason I loved playing with Classic Mac OS in an emulator. I thought of it as 'icon-oriented', and it *seemed just right*.

I'm becoming an old geezer, like, manually. I picked up a pack of unused or nearly unused 3.5" floppies today at a garage sale, and now I watched a video and am getting an internal floppy drive for my #Dell #D630 >D