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Alan wrote: > Robin Cornelius wrote: > >> On 4/2/07, Alan <ap@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >>>> AFAICT, there is no format or archived media that cannot be read today, >>>> even ones that are already 50 years old. There will always be >>>> archivists and historians who will seek to use the old formats and that >>>> can keep the codec alive. As long as one person is interested in the >>>> format, the source code remains available and it can be updated to >>>> whatever is around at the time. >>>> >>>> >>> so can you help me get some photos off some 5.25" floppies I have stored >>> away? >>> >>> >> Do you have a 5.25" drive? i assume not as you are asking. I do have >> one somewhere here >> > > I do. But don't have a controller I can plug into a modern computer though. > > > >>> The format may be OK, but the media may not. And I'm old enough to have >>> some 8" floppies with interesting stuff on them. >>> >>> >> My BBC micro games still run of the 5.25" disk, as long as you didn't >> bend them in half they were not that bad. >> >> Might have somthing to do with the data density is so low you can >> almost see the magnetic bits with the naked eye (joking) >> >> >> > And you're right, jokes aside. And if your eyesight isn't all that good, > then you could at least feel the bumps. > > The point was that you really couldn't expect to be able to have the > mechanical technology to recover all that old stuff stored away. The > software, formats, and codecs aren't the issue. You still need a slot to > plug the stuff into. > > Anyone got any classics on Beta they'd like to play some rainy evening? > > > better get those VHS home movies stored onto your quantum bubble drive pretty quick, cos VHS will be as dead as beta soon. OK it probably will be always possible to transfer stuff, but it's difficult and costly. My mother paid around £35 to have her super8 wedding transferred to video. I have loads of colour slides I'd like digitised, but high street photographers charge £20 a box. Now I guess mother will have to fork out another £35 to go from vhs to *.avi. And I have heard interviews with historians who are seriously worried that the digital age will not be accessable in the same way the paper/clay/papirus eras are. Simon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html