25 Sep
2005
25 Sep
'05
1:36 p.m.
Subject: Re: Odd floppy drives (Helitron)
From: "John Allain" <allain at panix.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 22:30:15 -0400
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
Definately older than 1974.
The oddest I'd seen was Ionovex The mech was about 8" high and about as wide
but the media was a web of mylar with oxide and the head spun under it with
a variable radius. Strange affair. I got to see it as bare drive but never
as part of a system.
Allison
He claims that he was the inventor of the basic
floppy mechanism ... This was around 1980, maybe 1979.
69 ~ 70?
I mean, by 1980 floppies were down to 5.25" and the 8"
had been out well over 5 years. Maybe the guy with the
knob drive was lying even harder than you suspected.
John A.