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From Floppy Disk to Superhuman Robot

 

Floppy Disks

Japan was probably the only country that retained the floppy disk on their computers so long. Now that country has decided to say goodbye to the floppy drive and the disk.

Most people of the present young generation may not even have seen the floppy disk. When I bought my first computer, a desktop that took up quite a lot of space in the room, the floppy disk was the only way to copy data and store it or transfer it. The disk couldn’t keep much data either. I remember using floppy disks that could contain hardly 1.44 MB of data. Very often these disks would get infected either by virus or by the weather. It couldn’t withstand humidity or the heat of Delhi’s summer. It was absolutely unreliable, in short.

Soon came compact disks or CDs which were far superior to the floppy disks. But copying anything on to the CD was a Herculean task which I never managed to master. It had the tremendous (tremendous in those days) capacity to hold 700 MB of data.

When I got my first pen drive, I was quite excited. It could hold one full GB of data and using it was mere child’s play. I still remember the astounding amount of Rs1200 I paid for that small stick. It was a novelty in those days, a wonder, in fact.  

My present laptop, a Lenovo IdeaPad, doesn’t even have a CD drive. I was told that CDs had become as extinct as the floppies, when I purchased this laptop. But now I’m given to understand that the CD is all set to return in a new avatar with a storage capacity of 1.6 petabytes. [A petabyte is 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes!] How far have I come from the 20 GB storage space of my first PC to petabytes!

The changes that occurred in this one field alone, during a short part of my lifespan, make me wonder about the human potential for creating magic and miracles. I’m sure a lot more changes are in the offing, much more than I can even imagine.

What’s my dream for my tomorrow? To have a robot to do all the unpleasant tasks at home like weeding the garden and cleaning the house. I’m quite sure that will be a reality soon enough.



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Comments

  1. magiceyeJuly 8, 2024 at 7:17 PM

    Evolution! There already is a robot available in India to clean the floor!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 8, 2024 at 7:47 PM

      Yeah, i saw that even on Amazon. I'm waiting for one that will do a lot more :)

      Delete
  2. Yamini MacLeanJuly 8, 2024 at 8:24 PM

    Hari OM
    My first career path was in computing - begun when there were still punch cards for input, tapes for storage, and room-sized operational units! I kid not. The changes, particularly this century, are awe-inspiring, but, with the approach (encroachment?) of AI, I find myself becoming a bit troglodyte! Be careful what is wished for, is my thinking on this. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pradeep NairJuly 8, 2024 at 11:17 PM

    This trip down memory lane with storage devices is fascinating! I remember the struggle of floppy disks too... They were so ultramodern then! ... Who knows, maybe your robot gardener will be a reality even sooner than you think!
    (My latest post: UK Tour 06 - Beamish Museum)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 9, 2024 at 7:26 PM

      Indeed, back then, the floppy disk was a miracle.

      Delete
  4. Liz A.July 9, 2024 at 3:54 AM

    There's a "law" in computing about doubling the amount of storage (or power or something) every 18 months. It's seemed to hold true, and the amount of data and storage is just mind blowing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cindy D'SilvaJuly 10, 2024 at 3:07 AM

    Lovely post. Just the other day I was trying to explain to my daughter what a floppy disk was. I still have my diary on them. Still have them. Don't know why.

    Lost a lot of data that I had stored on HDs. Gosh so heartbreaking. But it is man made after all. Memory in our brain is best.

    Even I want a robot to do all the housework and cooking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 10, 2024 at 1:38 PM

      I sent my first book on English poetry in a floppy disk to my publisher. Now books are far easier to be sent and published. Life is much better today with all the technology. The robot will be ready too soon. But will we be any happier?

      Delete
  6. Lux G.July 10, 2024 at 7:18 PM

    Oh, my goodness. This brings a lot of memories. Good and bad. lol! Oh, how far we've gone.

    ReplyDelete

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