8 inch floppies

[Fred Cisin]

>> Hidden behind a NYTimes paywall, . . .
>> news yesterday that the 8 inch drive nuclear weapions system has now been updated.

On Sat, 26 Oct 2019, John Foust via cctalk wrote:
> And what media or method did they upgrade to?  Top secret?
> Here's a different version of the story:
> <https://www.c4isrnet.com/air/2019/10/17/the-us-nuclear-forces-dr-strangelove-era-messaging-system-finally-got-rid-of-its-floppy-disks/>https://www.c4isrnet.com/air/2019/10/17/the-us-nuclear-forces-dr-strangelove-era-messaging-system-finally-got-rid-of-its-floppy-disks/

Thanks for the URL
Amusing that requiring repair technicians having ability to "solder metal" 
was one of the major problems.


The USUAL progression from 8" floppies was to 35 track (later 40 track) 
single sided (later double) FM single density (later MFM) 48tpi (later 
96tpi) 5.25".
But, an easier conversion would be straight to "1.2M", which would need 
few hardware changes other than a custom cable.
(In fact, the first Mitsubishi 1.2M drive that I got had a 50 pin 
connector; later 4854s had a 34 pin connector)

But, why not cards or paper tape?

Or, if they want to expand speed and capacity, ST506, or even ST412.

They could go to thumb drives, such as Stuxnet

Or, was the main goal to give it a publicly accessible IP address?
("War Games" is playing on MPLEX right now)


Besides convenient recreational Facebook access for staff technicians, why 
is web browsing implemented on MRI control computers or on WOPR?


BTW, the superceded drives and media will remain "classified" until they 
crumble, and our surplus channels will not get a sudden major influx of 
available media.