OT - Video Card Question(s)

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
it shows that you never used a USB stick on a win98 machine.

I have. I have no idea why you would say I haven't.

In any case, the question is irrelevant to the different question of whether
one should by default choose to install a floppy drive on a new PC.

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
The USB flash drives all act as a
standard disk controller, and the standard Windows USB drivers recognize
it
as such.

no sir.

Yes sir.

each USB stick needs is own set of drivers (unless you find some with the
sam chipset). But I agree, mostly these drivers come with a small cd-rom.

Baloney. The USB drives have the same disk controller interface found on a
variety of other USB-attached storage devices, and they all comply with the
standard supported in Windows. You do not need to go around installing
drivers specific to your USB flash drive just to get your flash drive to
work.

This is, in fact, one of the reasons that USB flash drives have become so
ubiquitous. Modern PCs already have all the software required in order to
display them as standard file storage devices. You just plug them in and
they work.

Pete

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
I haven't bought a computer with a floppy drive in five years, and
probably
haven't even used a floppy drive in three. A floppy drive is just a dust
collector these days.

So how do you update a BIOS?

You get a motherboard that doesn't require a floppy to do so. In some
cases, this involves booting from a CD, in other cases, the motherboard has
a BIOS mechanism that works from within Windows (and sometimes even other
operating systems).

What are you doing over there? Is all your computer hardware stuck in the
20th century? All of your comments seem to ignore all of the progress that
hardware manufacturers have made in the last ten years. It's like you've
never seen a PC that could be operated without a floppy drive before. They
exist, and these days are in the majority.

Pete

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
If computers continue to progress the way they have, my new "God System"
will end up in my daughter's dorm room in five years,
as a "junk" machine.


Ain't gonna happen.

Daddy's little girl is getting a new (2011 model year) machine, to help her
get the most out of that $57,000/year education you'll be footing the bill
for.

At $570, her NEW computer system will be 1% of her first year college
expenses.


Montblack

Daddy's little girl is getting a new (2011 model year) machine, to help her
get the most out of that $57,000/year education you'll be footing the bill
for.

At $570, her NEW computer system will be 1% of her first year college
expenses.

Geez, you couldn't have depressed me any more than THIS. What a way to
kick a guy -- and on the day before Thanksgiving!

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Peter Duniho wrote:
"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
The USB flash drives all act as a
standard disk controller, and the standard Windows USB drivers recognize
it
as such.

no sir.

Yes sir.

each USB stick needs is own set of drivers (unless you find some with the
sam chipset). But I agree, mostly these drivers come with a small cd-rom.

Baloney. The USB drives have the same disk controller interface found on a
variety of other USB-attached storage devices, and they all comply with the
standard supported in Windows. You do not need to go around installing
drivers specific to your USB flash drive just to get your flash drive to
work.

This is, in fact, one of the reasons that USB flash drives have become so
ubiquitous. Modern PCs already have all the software required in order to
display them as standard file storage devices. You just plug them in and
they work.

I finished a lesson Tuesday afternoon an noticed a Gulfstream on the
ramp, getting fuel and *kinda* getting ready to go. The copilot was
layin on the ground under the nose trying to reconnect something to
do with the gear (and yes, he's an A&P as well as a pilot). So I went
sightseeing and started chatting with the pilot. He was bored out of
his mind updating the FMS. A Rockwell Collins FMS. Jepp sends out a
CD with the updates but they can't use it. But, having the subscription,
they go on the Jepp website and download 5 floppy disks, then sped
45 min. or so doing the updates.

According to the pilot, no way to upgrade the FMS to use the CD.
What he really wants is the ability to use a USB drive with the
database for the upgrade! He can't even connect his laptop to the
system to do the upgrade from the CD.

There really are situations where us spam cans have an easier time
doing software upgrades to our equipment.

Blanche wrote:



According to the pilot, no way to upgrade the FMS to use the CD.
What he really wants is the ability to use a USB drive with the
database for the upgrade! He can't even connect his laptop to the
system to do the upgrade from the CD.




That is more than likely a certification issue with the FMS, not a
hardware or software issue.

In article ,
Martin Hotze wrote:

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:23:12 -0800, Peter Duniho wrote:

Once those drivers are
installed, you don't need additional drives specific to the make or model of
USB flash drive.

it shows that you never used a USB stick on a win98 machine.

Martin is correct. Win98 machines are very finicky when it comes to USB
devices. Some work, some don't. Win98 was the first implementation of
USB. It is the combination of hardware and software that determines
whether it will work with ones system.

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
I don't WANT to update a BIOS using a OS. Maybe I am a bit old fashioned,
but that's the way it is.

Then why did you ask "how do you update a BIOS"?

If you specifically don't want to use alternatives to using a floppy drive,
then you're stuck using a floppy drive. Duh. It's a self-fulfilling
prophecy.

But that in no way is relevant to the question of whether a floppy drive is
necessary (except in the degenerate case of when you specifically *want* a
floppy drive).

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:53:34 -0800, "Peter Duniho"
wrote:
I haven't bought a computer with a floppy drive in five years, and probably
haven't even used a floppy drive in three. A floppy drive is just a dust
collector these days.

I still keep an old laptop with a floppy drive in the closet and it is
configured such that I can quickly add it to the network if there is
something on a floppy that I have to copy to one of my machines... I
also have a couple of 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives that I can
temporarily add to a machine if necessary... Instead of one of the
memory stick USB drives, I use a CompactFlash card reader and use the
CF card that I retired from my digital camera after I replaced it with
a 2G card... About the only time I use a floppy these days is if I'm
upgrading the BIOS on an older machine and the procedure requires me
to boot from floppy... It don't need to floppy often, but I'm not
willing to completely give them up yet...