News Floppy disk-reliant San Francisco train control system spurs concerns of 'catastrophic failure' — and it won't be replaced for at least another decade

[in_the_loop]

Me too with MSX2 in '86 but I insist that for the end of '80 most PCs sold here was not PS2 compatible, had the old keyboard connector, 5.25" floppy and serial mouse (when present because used only in few games and DOS text app).
PS2 computers was expensive, so PS2 connectors was not common till mid '90.
For example from 1990 to 1994 in my school there was no PC with mouse or Windows and all with 5.25" floppies.
Suppose there was a big difference in IT culture or in budget from a country to another.

Maybe a difference in culture. At the university we had 3.5 inch PC:S in 1989. And, as I said, the Amiga and the Atari ST were extremely poplular and outnumbered the PC:s by far. And you could see the occasional Macintoshes too. But for the PC:s we caught on pretty fast. Remember that the library already in 1990 were equipped with PC:s running Windows 3.0 (Which was released that year). And they all had 3.5 inch disks.
Last time I remember even seeing a 5.25 inch floppy was probably around 1985 when I used it myself for my 8 bit Atari.
But, yeah, there were also a lot of Commodore 64:s around(probably the best selling computer of all time). With 5.25 inch disks. Many owners made the switch to the Amiga 500 or the Atari ST though....

 

[Priscus]

Wasn't the PS2 mouse connector just a shrunk version of the full size DIN connector previously being used for mouse connection?

Just checked: my earliest mouse from pre 'AT' form of PC has a mini 'D' connector, similar to a smaller version of the serial or VGA connectors. It was the keyboard connector of this, which has full sized Din connector.

 

[in_the_loop]

Wasn't the PS2 mouse connector just a shrunk version of the full size DIN connector previously being used for mouse connection?

I never saw these at the time. But in later years stumbled upon them. Seemed like a very ancient thing. The Din-connectors (5-pin at least) were very common in Stereo (hifi-audio) setups in the 70:s and 80;s.
And Midi (3-pin) for Synths and music equipment.
To me it never was about connecting a mouse or keyboard.

 

[liorh007]

Why not create a VM from the computer and the floppy .
Then there would be no degradation of the floppy and there would be a backup for the system.
It would be able to run under VM for another 26 years .

 

[USAFRet]

Why not create a VM from the computer and the floppy .
Then there would be no degradation of the floppy and there would be a backup for the system.
It would be able to run under VM for another 26 years .

Its not a single system.

 

[Luns Tee]

I'd speculated that the system actually uses 3.5" floppies and the ABC clip was sloppy in mistakenly referring to 5 inch disks. However, I've found less ambiguous evidence it is indeed 5-1/4" disks that are used.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621229630765125639

View: https://twitter.com/priyadclemens/status/1621229630765125639

Also (paywalled):
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea...w-rider-information-system-at-89-15570164.php

 

[Luns Tee]

Again: We're not talking about a floppy drive in a PC here, we're talking about a totally bespoke HW infrastructure with multiple different systems (probably made by multiple different companies that more then likely no longer exist) that all have to interact with eachother. All in a system that is *known working*. Replacing and re-verifying all that is not a cheap job, and could damn well bankrupt the company managing it all if things go badly,

Not totally bespoke, it's in all likelihood still PC based, and still using a commodity floppy drive.

To quote:
“The train control system isn’t a looming crisis,” Tumlin said. “Yes, it runs on DOS loaded from 5¼-inch floppy disks, but it’s still serviceable.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea...w-rider-information-system-at-89-15570164.php