FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Traffic Control

Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by stackghost on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:32PM (#50401637)

Why do you write it as “Apple forward slash forward slash E”?

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by MiroslavPokorny on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:38PM (#50401665)

If i remember correctly that Apple //E used that notation itself in its startup message and on various screens in AppleWorks.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by jacquesm on Saturday November 07, 2026 @12:36AM (#50401951)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIe

Check the logo on the picture on the right.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by stackghost on Saturday November 07, 2026 @01:37AM (#50402201)

I suppose it just seems weird to write “//e” when it’s the “Apple two E” and II is the universally accepted Roman numeral notation for the number two.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by otterley on Saturday November 07, 2026 @01:57AM (#50402290)

It’s a cultural tic. Been around for decades. Those same folks also write “Apple ][“ to refer to the original Apple II.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by y1n0 on Saturday November 07, 2026 @02:11AM (#50402350)

It's a cultural tic to refer to something by its name.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by bmacho on Saturday November 07, 2026 @06:46AM (#50403708)

Is it it's name tho? Legally and culturally, do they have the power to name it?

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by bmacho on Saturday November 07, 2026 @10:17AM (#50405278)

[delayed]

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by otterley on Saturday November 07, 2026 @10:26AM (#50405344)

You should check the actual manual: http://applelogic.org/files/AIIEREF.pdf

First, the cover uses italic sans-serif “I” characters, not forward slashes. It’s pretty clear if you’re familiar with typography.

Second, the body of the document uses neither. It uses the standard upright I character.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by y1n0 on Saturday November 07, 2026 @02:05AM (#50402323)

That's how it was named. The bootscreen didn't say Apple IIe. It's Apple //e. with slashes. That's how it was in all the docs and any software and the bootrom.

Call it weird if you want, but that's what the name was.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by otterley on Saturday November 07, 2026 @11:38AM (#50405883)

First, the cover uses italic sans-serif “I” characters, not forward slashes. It’s pretty clear if you’re familiar with typography.

Second, the body of the document uses neither. It uses the standard upright I character.

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by fsckboy on Saturday November 07, 2026 @12:07PM (#50406125)

because Apple did

https://archive.org/details/005a_Appleworks_Startup_Side_1

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Re:FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Tra... by viraptor on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:00AM (#50403784)

Of course some will last longer. It's not a cliff, just "not recommended to use for longer than...". But a lot depends on the conditions of storage, how much usage they got, etc. Manufacturers gave them 10-20 years normally, which puts almost all of them in the not recommended territory.

The fact people have old working floppies doesn't change the fact that degradation happens.

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