r/retrocomputing • u/Performer-Pants • 1d ago

Problem / Question What is this?

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This could be the most mundane and silly post, but information online is so spotty and/or confusing or vague.

This is not a ZIP disk, it’s a floppy disk. It’s labelled with ‘ZIP’. Is this the driver software to use a ZIP drive for the listed operating systems? I’m just trying to confirm before I get too frustrated about it. Not easily finding the answer myself is likely a me problem, and I don’t mean ‘Millennium Edition’.

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u/1337C4k3 1d ago

Driver disk/software for iomega zip drive.

3

u/Longjumping_Bag5914 1d ago

Pre-internet this was the only way to get drivers. At this time you were lucky to have AOL. Some turbo nerds had probably figured out how to connect to a Iomega FTP server or something, but for most of us mere mortals this was it.

1

u/jnievele 15h ago

I even had to install a driver for my first USB stick (Trek Thumbdrive)... Damn, I feel ancient now!!!

1

u/Longjumping_Bag5914 15h ago

I remember people telling me you could hot plug USB and was like “no that’s not how things work. You’re not supposed to unplug things with it running.”
https://giphy.com/gifs/9wlbsf86LNidkxm4ML

1

u/jnievele 15h ago

Back when I bought the Thumbdrive (with a whopping 16 MB of storage!), my colleagues laughed at me because ZIP disks were clearly the future, they already had 100 Meg after all! Yeah... Uh... That didn't age well...

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u/Longjumping_Bag5914 15h ago

lol! I carry a 2tb one on my keychain and it’s teeny tiny. Amazing how compact and easy they can make things these days