Experimental Project: Booting an IBM PC from a Vinyl Record
By
yesturi
Crackling crust, pillowy middle. The kind of bagel that earns a second cup of coffee.
Summary
An experimental project demonstrates booting a vintage IBM PC from a vinyl record using a record player connected through an amplifier. The article describes creating a 64 512-byte DOS boot disk on a 10-inch vinyl record that plays for 6 minutes and 10 seconds at 45 RPM, showing how unconventional media can be used for computer booting as a technical curiosity rather than practical application.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledMost PCs tend to boot from a primary media storage, be it a hard disk drive, or a solid-state drive, perhaps from a network, or – if all else fails – the USB stick or the boot DVD comes to the rescue… Fun, eh? Boring! Why don’t we try to boot from a record player for a change?
64 512 byte DOS boot disk on a 10″ record, total playing time 06:10 on 45 rpm
So this nutty little experiment connects a PC, or an IBM PC to be exact, directly onto a record player through an amplifier.
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