Back in the 90s, i had a 386 machine, which had a CDROM... that device was only to use with the PC and read data or music. To listen music from an audio CD, you needed to power on the PC and use some software to play the audio...
...but somewhere in the mid or late 90s some CDROM devices appeared that could also play audio CDs by them selves. They had a Play/Pause button and an audio jack, that you could connect to headphones or speakers and listen music. They only needed power to be used. Of course they could also be used as a normal PC device to read data from the PC.
I think you mean those devices :)
It totally bugs me when it's acceptable to call things what they aren't!
like calling something 'milk' when it's not coming from a mammal? :)
StormTrooper wrote to Nigel Reed <=-
only play from it. That said, not sure where the term "drive" comes
from because hard drives don't really go any where. Then again, where
are 3 1/2" disks called floppies because they're not floppy at all. So
I suspect... that hard drive is a throw back to them good old days when your HD was the size of a fridge and you had to install the platters in it. In a real sense you inserted platters into the drive mechanism. Probably hung on after the platters became integrated and the devices
much smaller..
boraxman wrote to Nightfox <=-
Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they
should be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".
xqtr wrote to Nightfox <=-
Back in the 90s, i had a 386 machine, which had a CDROM... that device
was only to use with the PC and read data or music. To listen music
from an audio CD, you needed to power on the PC and use some software
to play the audio...
Roon wrote to phigan <=-
like calling something 'milk' when it's not coming from a mammal? :)
Do you think it's acceptable to call a PC optical drive a "player"? I feel like that's not even really accurate, because when you're watching
a movie disc on your PC, it's the software that does the playing of the video. The optical drive is just reading the data, and you could also
be using the optical disc to install software, rip movies, etc., which
are activities that don't count as "playing" something.
only play from it. That said, not sure where the term "drive" comes
from because hard drives don't really go any where. Then again, where
I WILL NOT use the term "kibibyte" or "mebibyte". Refuse to.
Don't change convention.
like calling something 'milk' when it's not coming from a mammal? :)
I like that the popular protein drink "MUSCLE MILK" has to say in small print, CONTAINS NO MILK.
Floppies used to be floppy - especially the 8" variety. 5 1/4" were minifloppies, and 3 1/2" were microfloppies. Would that make a USB stick
a nanoflopppy?
Back in the 90s, i had a 386 machine, which had a CDROM... that device
was only to use with the PC and read data or music. To listen music from an audio CD, you needed to power on the PC and use some software to play the audio...
Also, what is up with people calling them "Hard Drives", when they sh
be "Hard Disks", or better yet, "Winchesters".
Doesn't "disk" refer to the actual round platter(s) inside it? I always thought it was called a "drive" because it's a device that drives the motion of the disks, similar to how a screwdriver is used to "drive" the screw into the wood by turning it.
Also I've never heard the term "Winchester" for a storage device..?
Yeah.. How exactly do you milk an almond? :P
Adept wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
Salt Sense - Advertises that it contains something like 1/3rd less salt per teaspoon. Given that the contents are over 99% salt, just like with any other salt, they get this by making the granules bigger, thus increasing the amount of air included in a teaspoon.
So, if you want the exact same effect with table salt inside of a dish, you included 1/3rd less, and it's exactly the same. Or you could just
use kosher salt instead, and already be somewhere around there.
StormTrooper wrote to Nightfox <=-
Doesn't "disk" refer to the actual round platter(s) inside it? I always thought it was called a "drive" because it's a device that drives the motion of the disks, similar to how a screwdriver is used to "drive" the screw into the wood by turning it.
My wife always buys whipped cream cheese. I don't like paying for AIR.
Oh, isn't this the CONSPIRACY echo?
Seagate's moved their headquarters long ago, but the buildings are still there. The address? 1 Disk Drive, Scotts Valley, CA.
Also I've never heard the term "Winchester" for a storage device..?
telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-
Also I've never heard the term "Winchester" for a storage device..?
i'm still using winchester, when referring to a HDD in a hungarian conversation :)
Re: Is a PC optical drive a "player"?
By: Roon to Nightfox on Mon Apr 28 2025 08:43 pm
Also I've never heard the term "Winchester" for a storage device..?
i'm still using winchester, when referring to a HDD in a hungarian conversation :)
Winchester drives are drives with sealed platters/heads. Made for a quantum reduction in size. Imagine if in the present day we had to
create old-tech gigabyte drives with removeable disk packs, a gig the
size of a washing machine?
In a tangentially related "old man yells at cloud" issue:
KB vs KiB, etc
For a good portion of my life I remember KB=1024 bytes. The past 10 years or so, its now KB bytes and a KiB is 1024 bytes.
I WILL NOT use the term "kibibyte" or "mebibyte". Refuse to.
Don't change convention.
I've never referred to them that way. Only way it's a player is if it's a standalone device. Stuff like a walkman, CD player, DVD/BD player, stuff like that. Otherwise it's just a drive. I don't call my old PS2's disc tray a DVD player.
Floppies used to be floppy - especially the 8" variety. 5 1/4" were minifloppies, and 3 1/2" were microfloppies. Would that make a USB stick
a nanoflopppy?
Do you think it's acceptable to call a PC optical drive a "player"?
Do you think it's acceptable to call a PC optical drive a "player"?
No. But even more to the point, PC optical drives are unacceptable! My last few desktop builds don't have 'em, my laptops don't have 'em. I really hope nobody ever hands me a CD or DVD disc again because I won't have a handy way to read it (though yes, I do own some USB optical drives... somewhere).
So it's understandable that people don't know what they're called because you don't really see/use them any longer! :-)
If it's DVD-ROM or CD-ROM then yes, it would be a player since you can
only play from it.
That said, not sure where the term "drive" comes
from because hard drives don't really go any where.
Then again, where
are 3 1/2" disks called floppies because they're not floppy at all.
So many conundrums when it comes to computer hardware.
In a tangentially related "old man yells at cloud" issue:
KB vs KiB, etc
For a good portion of my life I remember KB=1024 bytes. The past 10 years or so, its now KB bytes and a KiB is 1024 bytes.
I've come to terms with the change but I don't really like it.
At work, the legacy system I work on refers to storage in base 2 so a KB=1024 but interacts with newer services that are base 10 where KB=1000 so there's a headache of conversions.
Anyway, I don't really understand why that all changed. I've heard people mention HDD storage manufacturers using base 10 as marketing and it stuck but that seems like an odd reason to upend everything.
...that's the end of my rant on that. I'm probably wrong so take it with a grain of salt. lol
Hey Nightfox!
On Thu, Apr 24 2025 20:02:53 -0500, you wrote:
I've heard people say it's the other way around.. KB is supposedly supposed to be 1000 bytes and KiB is 1024.
FYI, in a quick duckduckgo search.. my first two results conflict each other.
1st result:
Kibibyte = 1
Kilobyte = 1.024
2nd result:
1 kB = 1000 bytes; 1 KiB = 1024 bytes
Digital Man wrote to slacker <=-
etc.) is that solution. It'd been better if we could go back in time
and not use K=1024 to begin with, but oh well. Here we are.
In a few million years, maybe we'll grow 2 extra thumbs and get rid of
base 10. Sure would help my phone typing...
So we'd count in base 12?
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