arstechnica ,
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

5.25-inch floppy disks expected to help run San Francisco trains until 2030

"We have a technical debt that stretches back many decades."

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/5-25-inch-floppy-disks-expected-to-help-run-san-francisco-trains-until-2030/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

shippychaos ,
@shippychaos@homo.promo avatar

@arstechnica @elin what. MUNI is auto piloted into the station by three 5.25” floppy disks?? 🥲 it’s 1999

Aviva_Gary ,
@Aviva_Gary@noc.social avatar

@arstechnica I'm sorry... what 👀

encukou ,
@encukou@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica SF is so missing out on modern software product engineering practices!
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/manufacturer-deliberately-bricked-trains-repaired-by-competitors-hackers-find/

frankcat ,
@frankcat@mstdn.social avatar

@arstechnica I’d be more worried about the chewing gum holding the vacuum tubes in place.

mistersql ,
@mistersql@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica Reformat and backup often. Those were the opposite of durable.

TonyJWells ,
@TonyJWells@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica

Goo to see they finally upgraded from 8-inch floppies?

steppl ,

@arstechnica

Yeah - I'm fine with that.

Found this news back in 2016 about 8" floppy used for controlling ICBMs more concerning. Good enough in 2019 that topic got resolved

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/26/us-nuclear-arsenal-controlled-by-1970s-computers-8in-floppy-disks

SeriousMoonlight ,
@SeriousMoonlight@beige.party avatar

@arstechnica saving this to use as as the very definition of "technical debt"

2KKyle ,
@2KKyle@twit.social avatar

@arstechnica It's shocking how far behind ICS is, and how reluctant everyone in the chain of command is to fix it.

willschlitzer ,
@willschlitzer@fosstodon.org avatar

@arstechnica

Wild to see these are still in use in the tech capital of the US.

NatureMC ,
@NatureMC@mastodon.online avatar

@arstechnica a whole article for ! ⬆️ 😱

trz ,
@trz@ioc.exchange avatar

@arstechnica Gonna upgrade to 3.5" floppies for use between 2030-2050.

mikej ,
@mikej@mastodon.online avatar

@arstechnica As long as it works right. The worst thing in the world is somebody looking at a system that's working just fine and saying, "we can fix it."

MichaelPorter ,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@arstechnica From the good old days, when disks were FLOPPY

thomas ,
@thomas@twinports.us avatar

@arstechnica
Companies like @adafruit are making tools to read this historic data and something tells me a compatibility layer is quite possible

LanguageMan1 ,

@arstechnica Well, at least they're not 8-12 inch floppies.

ids1024 ,
@ids1024@fosstodon.org avatar

@arstechnica "The floppies have been part of Muni Metro's Automatic Train Control System (ATCS) since its installation in the Market Street subway stop in 1998" - Uh, was using 5 1/4 inch floppies not already embarrassingly outdated by 1998?

Not that it's always best to use the latest thing, but floppy disks aren't really known for being a very reliable solution.

Is it that hard to at least transition to a DOS system with more reliable and fast storage?

ukuku ,
@ukuku@mstdn.social avatar

@arstechnica meanwhile, new Boeing planes still using punch cards.

monkeyborg ,
@monkeyborg@triangletoot.party avatar

@arstechnica Iʼm fine with this. We should build more computer-controlled systems to last decades without the need for significant upgrades.

janbeta ,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@arstechnica They could at least use a Gotek.

Lilith111 ,
@Lilith111@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica
unbelievable - shows that kicking the can down the road doesn't work

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