doug@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Doug Hendricks) (12/23/88)
I want to thank all of the people who gave me responses to my question about a Long-Life Battery and Clock. My brother and his artist friend were very pleased. For those who wondered, this is what the artist planed to do (my interpretation): A videotape would be made of time-capsule-y images and sounds and placed in a video system that would activate and play after 100 years. Clearly, there are many technological problems to be faced here, not the least being the degradation of materials. I advanced very general questions because I wanted to see how wide a range of creative answers I could receive, and I was not disappointed. Thank you and Merry Christmas, Douglas Hendricks Know the Seven Warning Signs of Weirdness. Hewlett-Packard See Your Doctor. Santa Clara, CA
cs374326@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Peter Johansson) (12/25/88)
In article <1310018@hpcilzb.HP.COM> doug@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Doug Hendricks) writes: >A videotape would be made of time-capsule-y images and sounds and placed >in a video system that would activate and play after 100 years. Clearly, >there are many technological problems to be faced here, not the least >being the degradation of materials. I have a question that Doug Hendricks may be interested in hearing the answer. I do not know the answer myself, therefore I am posing the question to all you out in netland - I have heard a lot [of talk] about the life expectancy of various forms of magnetic media (computer/audio/video tape, floppy disks, etc.) I have heard estimates ranging from as short as 5 years to as long as 20 years. Will the images (i.e. magnetic patterns on the tape) stored on a videocassette last 100 years? If so, what kind of degradation could be expected? My personal interest in this is that I have quite a number of computers (mostly minis and micros) in my basement from the late 60's through the present. It's a collection of sorts, my electronic dinosaur museum. Most of them still work, and of course, most depend on magnetic media for operation. How long can I expect my floppies and tapes last before the soft errors turn into hard errors? I've already had to copy several of my old floppies onto fresh media in order to preserve them. I also have extensive collection (read 1000+ diskettes) of software for my Apple ][ (no trailing designations) and CPM SBC'c. Now that they are approaching the ten-year mark, I've done spot checks and found only minimal errors... so far. I really would like to keep this stuff, at least throughout my lifetime (no easy task considering I'm still not old enough to drink :-( ) So, Can any one tell me how long I can expect the media to last? Any suggestions as to the best way to archive it? I really shudder at the thought of copying thousands of disks and tapes to refreshen the magnetic particles, but what must be done must be done. Any discussion on this subject would be most welcomed. our rn groks on .signature... I am: Peter Johansson peter@umbc2.umd.edu (umbc2.umbc.edu as of Jan 9) peter@umbc2.bitnet ...{uunet|nerwin}!umbc3!cs374326 (though this dies Jan 3. sob.) Insert witty quote here. May I suggest /usr/games/fortune P.S. If you have *any* computers that you are considering throwing out, and they are located in the Balto/Wash. area, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. As a poor college student, I can't offer you any $$$, but you at least you have the knowledge that your "old friends" will be taken care of. (Just don't tell my mom, there's not enough room as it is.)
doug@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Doug Hendricks) (12/28/88)
>A videotape would be made of time-capsule-y images and sounds and placed >in a video system that would activate and play after 100 years. Clearly, >there are many technological problems to be faced here, not the least >being the degradation of materials. Ooops, a little mistake. I meant to say "videodisk". Douglas Hendricks Know the Seven Warning Signs of Weirdness. Hewlett-Packard See Your Doctor. Santa Clara, CA