And the Beat Goes on...

17 Jan 2020

So this little ditty was popular by Cher many years ago. But I just heard it on a commercial today. It got me to thinking how technology changes especially in storage. I just happened to look at a box in the corner of a closet. I decided to dig in and found this:

You see it is a Jump Drive from Lexar circa January 16, 2004 (based on when listed in Amazon). It has whopping 128 MB. Probably big in its day and I payed $39.99 retail. Requirements at the time were Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP. Who remembers Millennium Edition of Windows which was a disaster when released. Can anyone tell me why you need an internet connection for Windows 98?

Today, for the less money from Lexar JumpDrive V100 USB 3.0 Flash Drive ($29.99 retail)

1000 times larger USB 3.0 vs 2.0 so faster and less coin. What 16 years and progress can do! If only cars can improve that much in that many years! Maybe cars could get cheaper and 20,000 MPG. LOL Please feel free to comment your views and maybe old finds in the back of the closet...

Top Comments

cstanton over 4 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

Yes, this was why some devices had to emulate the identifier of being a CD-Rom drive, which then had appropriate drivers on it.

Though USB support was introduced with Win95b and Win98 had limited support for USB devices, along with Win98se, it still had some way to go.
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beacon_dave over 4 years ago

"Can anyone tell me why you need an internet connection for Windows 98?"
If I recall correctly, Win 98 didn't ship with drivers for USB mass storage devices, so you had to download them from an Internet site if there wasn't a diskette or CD included with the product.

(in this case it would have been a bit cruel to ship the driver on the USB memory device…)
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cstanton over 4 years ago

I stumbled upon this recently in my cupboard..

No-one believed that it worked, that it could work, and that it could function. It was ahead of its time, and I've been meaning to tinker with it and incorporate it into a project, perhaps with VR.

It's an OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator.
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ntewinkel over 4 years ago in reply to kmikemoo

kmikemoo , Mike - proud. definitely proud.
I'm especially impressed because there's no way I could've kept one of those hidden from my wife that long

I forgot that those were still pre-USB with the parallel cable!! Is there still a way to hook those up? I think I still have a disc downstairs somewhere

-Nico
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clem57 over 4 years ago in reply to kmikemoo

OMG! I had one of those many years ago. I wonder where it went.
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