- Disquette pilots live in Linux, although the functionality remains unchanged
- The Patch Linux Minor highlights the persistence of obsolete technology in the middle of modern storage advances
- The floppy disks symbolize more and more nostalgia rather than any practical storage utility
The floppy disks, which have long been rejected as obsolete relics of the past, have returned unexpectedly under Linux’s development projectors.
For the first time in almost three years, a new patch has been subject to Tridy Up Old Floppy Code, including the deletion of unused macros, replacing obsolete constants and a simple reorganization of headers to make the code easier to maintain.
The update was directed by Andy Shevchenko, who described the effort as a series of cleaning rather than the introduction of new features.
Persistence of inherited technology
Although such adjustments seem minor, they show that this technology that is not yet abandoned in the Linux ecosystem.
The decision to maintain the support of the flexibility flops raises a broader question of relevance.
Modern storage technology has exceeded the limits of a disc of 1.44 MB.
Today, the largest SSD options offer capacity teraoctes, while cloud storage makes physical supports unnecessary for most users.
Despite this, Linux continues to take care of the floppy equipment, even if the pilot is effectively orphan and largely intact.
This suggests that there are still narrow but persistent niches where access to the floppy disk remains useful.
For example, in the New Jersey state prison, prisoners are limited to 20 floppy disks to store cases related to cases, a measure implemented for security reasons, while all other storage devices remain prohibited.
The commercial side of the floppy media is just as precarious. Sony, formerly the main supplier, stopped production in 2010.
The few remaining outlets operate from declining stocks rather than current manufacturing.
A seller, Tom Persky, who described himself as the “last standing man” and exploits Flopppydisk.com, one of the rare places where you can get drives, predicts in 2022 that the disk clearance industry will last for “four additional years”.
The new discs are no longer produced and that existing supplies are shrinking, the concept of floppy support in active use seems more and more difficult to justify.
Therefore, this Linux patch consists less in reporting a revival of the floppy disks and more to keep the nucleus clean and ordered.
Without functional improvements, users are always faced with the same limits of archaic storage, with such a low capacity that it barely holds a single modern document.
While enthusiasts can accommodate the preservation of inherited compatibility, the practical argument remains low compared to contemporary alternatives.
The performance of the SSD, sustainability and the drop in prices make the continuous dependence of the floppy disks are more like nostalgia than to necessity.
Disquette drivers can stay in Linux for a while, but the update highlights their status as more than a historical page note.
Via Toms equipment
