Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks

Re:Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks by lizknope on Monday August 10, 2020 @11:01AM (#24109979)

The article said the floppy drive is kept behind a locked panel. The article doesn't mention if the updates fit on a single floppy or a stack of 20 floppies. I don't see a fundamental problem as long as the data has checksums to make sure that it transferred successfully. I used to get tons of errors on floppy disks transferring data back in the 90's using Sun workstations and PCs. I started making my own checksums to make sure my transfers were correct.

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Re:Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks by jandrese on Monday August 10, 2020 @11:07AM (#24110029)

I'd assume the data is sized by 1988 standards and fits on a small number of floppies, probably just one.

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Re:Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks by helb on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @08:07AM (#24131198)

> if the updates fit on a single floppy or a stack of 20 floppies

The display says "INSERT DISK #1" so probably at least two, and it looks like there's a place for maybe a dozen under the "diskette stowage latch":

https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/08/10/b744navdatafloppydrive.jpg

https://twitter.com/harrymccracken/status/940263706444754945...

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Re:Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks by notjustanymike on Monday August 10, 2020 @11:07AM (#24110045)

> a stack of 20 floppies

Well now I'm having flashbacks of installing "Strike Commander".

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Re:Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks by hinkley on Monday August 10, 2020 @01:24PM (#24111696)

I got so much exercise trying to install Slackware from >20 floppies. Disk 5 has read errors. go copy another, start over from disk 1. Disk 8 has a read error.

(By the time I was done I didn't have enough disks, so I had to go to the lab in the middle)

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Re:Boeing 747s receive software updates over floppy disks by lizknope on Monday August 10, 2020 @02:08PM (#24112206)

I installed Slackware 2.1 with kernel 1.1.59 in the fall of 1994.

I only had about 15 floppies between me and my roommate. I remember getting the "a" series of disks and then the "d" series for development and so on. I had to run back and forth to the computer lab about 5 times over the weekend.

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