Farewell, Fair Floppy

Farewell, Fair Floppy

Q.  Do floppy disks serve any purpose these days?

A.  If you’ve been using computers for a few years, you probably have an impressive collection of 3.5-inch floppy disks, and possibly even some of the old, old, 5.25-inch disks. (Historical Note: Prior to the 3.5-inch floppy, we old geeksters used 5.25-inch disks that were flexible and thus truly floppy. Before that we used stone tablets.)

Today, floppy drives have gone the way of the LP record and are little more than a relic from an earlier age of computing — not unlike Mr. Modem, I might add.

Newer technologies have resulted in storage options that are more cost-effective and efficient. A thumbnail flash drive, for example, can hold gigabytes of data, has no moving parts, and is instantly recognizable by any PC. Just insert it in a USB port and it will be assigned its own drive letter which you can then access from My Computer.

Other popular forms of data storage include CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, ZIP drives, online storage sites such as Xdrive (www.xdrive.com) or backup services such as Carbonite (www.carbonite.com).

For my backups, I use a Seagate FreeAgent 250GB External Drive. It’s very easy to use and no additional software is required: You simply plug it in and off you go. I purchased mine from NewEgg (www.newegg.com) but 250, 500GB and other size drives are available at finer external drive retailers everywhere.

If you need to access data from your old floppies, you can purchase an external, USB floppy drive from most consumer electronics stores. 

Q.  How can I add the date and page numbers to Web pages that I print?

A.  You can customize the information that appears in the header or footer sections of your printed page by using what are called page set-up codes. To view these codes, open Windows Notepad (Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad), and click File > Page Setup. Click the question mark (?) in the upper right-hand corner of the Page Setup dialog box, then click the Header or Footer fields to see a list of available codes.

You’ll note that the code “&d” (without the quotes) results in the date and “&p” inserts the page number. You can combine the codes with text, so “Page &p” will result in the word “Page” appearing before the actual page number.

Your browser will also have a variety of available page set-up codes. If you’re using Internet Explorer, with a Web page displayed, click File > Page Setup. Click the question mark in the upper right-hand corner, then click again in the Header or Footer field to review the available set-up codes. 

Firefox (www.mozilla.org/firefox) makes it even easier: Click File > Page Setup > Margins & Header/Footer tab. In the “Headers & Footers” area, use the drop-down menus to select the information you would like to appear in either the header or footer area of each printed page.

Mr. Modem’s Sites of the Week:

Early Recorded Sounds
From wax cylinders to DVDs, sound recordings have come a long, long way. This site provides an excursion back to late 19th and early 20th century experiments that started it all. Wax cylinders emerged in 1888 as the recording standard. Hear preserved sounds such as the Liberty Bell March from 1897 or Thomas Edison, in his own voice. Listen for free online, read the history, or visit the music store to purchase recordings.
www.tinfoil.com

Toaster Museum
“They call you crazy if you collect toasters,” says the toaster hoster of this site, world-renowned toaster collector, Jens Veerback. (Kindly hold your applause.) The Toaster Museum displays more than 200 toasters, including a rare 1920s German 4-slice device, and a beautiful, red Dutch model named Molly. Seriously. He wants to expand his collection, so if you have an old toaster, Jens has the bread.
www.toastermuseum.com

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