Today I will describe the technology of using floppy disks as storage that became obsolete after some time and technology that is still in use - a keyboard.
Became obsolete - a floppy disk
First of all, a floppy disk. It is an obsolete way of storing something on your computer which was invented in the late 1960s. Its principles of work are based on magnetic recording when data is stored on a magnetized medium. The first development of floppy disks was performed by IBM and it made them quite big: disks had a size of 8 inches in diameter. But later on, their format was reduced thanks to technological progress. However, they still had a small storage capacity and low data transfer speed which decreased their popularity in 21 century as optical disks and flash drives had better qualities. Nevertheless back at the time floppy disks were a really common phenomenon, so the software developers decided to use a symbol of a floppy disk for a save button. This symbol is still used in most of the programs.
Survives to the present day - a keyboard
A modern keyboard has not changed a lot since the 19 century when it was used in teleprinters. Of course, the keys now cause a digital response of the machine instead of a mechanical one as it was in teleprinters, the key location has also changed, but the technology overall didn’t suffer any big changes. We still use button pressing as a primary way of an input in modern IT
A keyboard is a flat computer input device with buttons located on its surface to type into the computer specified information. As I have mentioned, they were first used in typewriters and evolved into a modern computer keyboard in the late 20 century. A set of characters that are represented on keys of a keyboard is called a layout and it is standardized. However, some minor parts differ depending on the language peculiarities. In addition, some of the keys on a keyboard represent characters, but not all of them. There are keys that are used for system commands such as Alt, Shift or Enter. Keyboard producers are experimenting with developing new types of keyboards for more flexibility and ergonomics however, an original rectangle-shaped keyboard remains the most demanded one, making this technological invention in demand.
Sources list:
“The Floppy Disk”. IBM website. (Access date: 05.02.2022). https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/floppy/
“Floppy Disks”. Computer History Museum. (Access date: 06.02.2022). https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/261
Abbad Liberman. “Keyboard standards”. TDIL website. (Access date: 06.02.2022). https://www.tdil-dc.in/index.php?option=com_vertical&parentid=12&lang=en
Iris Lee. “ History of a computer keyboard”. (Access date: 06.02.2022). https://www.sutori.com/en/story/history-of-a-computer-keyboard--kBQp4fKPzop4ryV5CcdH6xtN
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