Floppies: The Disks that Changed the World

The floppy disk was one of the greatest breakthroughs in
computing. It helped spin up the software industry with a format
that endured for decades. And in some cases, it’s conserved
treasures once thought to be lost forever. 


 Before floppy disks came along, computing was weighed down
by punch cards and magnetic tapes. Steven Vaughan-Nichols
describes the magnitude of the changes brought by the floppy
disk. Dave Bennet explains how the need for permanent storage,
which was also easily mailable, led to the first 8-inch drives.
George Sollman recalls how he was tasked with creating a smaller
floppy, and what unexpected sources inspired the next design. And
when Sollman showed it to the Homebrew Computer Club, a couple of
this season’s usual suspects asked him to see more. And the rest
is history. 


 Or is it? Matthew G. Kirschenbaum points out that floppy
disks are still in use in some unexpected places. And Jason Scott
and Tony Diaz tell us how they brought some source code from the
sneakernet to the cloud.


 If you want to read up on some of our research on floppy
disks, you can check out all our bonus material over at
redhat.com/commandlineheroes. You’ll find extra content for every
episode. Follow along with the episode transcript.