US FAA says it will phase out floppy disks from air traffic control by 2028

Re:US FAA says it will phase out floppy disks from air traff... by MomsAVoxell on Friday November 06, 2026 @02:52PM (#50397478)

When I was 10 years old, way back in 1980, I got my first 5.25" diskette from the salesman of a COMPUTER AGE shop. He got tired of watching me type in the same old BASIC listings after school and spared me the damage of it by giving me the diskette, on the provision that I let other customers use the demo APPLE II's.

Sitting here now in 2026 I have a box containing almost 3000 3.5" FHD floppy disks.

Each about 1.544 Megabytes, unless you cut the notch.

I literally dumpster dived this resource after being invited in to do so at a local electronics shop closure, some years ago now, on the proviso that I did not leave empty handed.

There are about 12 devices in my living room that can use these things, but I'll never use more than 12.

Some day, I'll see the last one go. That'll be weird.

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Re:US FAA says it will phase out floppy disks from air traff... by RetroTechie on Friday November 06, 2026 @03:21PM (#50397907)

> Some day, I'll see the last one go.

Equally likely: they'll see YOU go. Pape... uhm I mean floppies are patient.

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Re:US FAA says it will phase out floppy disks from air traff... by WalterBright on Friday November 06, 2026 @05:16PM (#50399228)

Typing in the code from a listing is one way I inadvertently learned to program.

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Re:US FAA says it will phase out floppy disks from air traff... by MomsAVoxell on Saturday November 07, 2026 @01:28AM (#50402167)

Same. Over and over again. Every time, learning new things. And then trying to port things from one system to another is how I became a disciplined cross-platform systems software developer. And then, when C was kind of new, I bought a compiler instead of drugs and booze, like my peers at the time. Oh, what a world that has wrought!

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