From: steven+usenet@thomsen-jones.dk   
      
   On 19/01/2026 08:29, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   > Hardware hacker wants to make an alternative remote control for his   
   > smart TV that would be more intuitive for his toddler child to use   
   > than a conventional interactive remote interface.   
   >   
   > So what does he do? Build it out of an ancient, 1990s-technology   
   > floppy drive. Basic idea is that each floppy disk represents a   
   > different stream; user inserts disk into drive, TV starts playing that   
   > stream.   
   >   
   > Initially he thought of faking it, with simulated floppy “disks” with   
   > RFID chips on them that the “drive” would detect. Then he figured that   
   > the actual tactile experience of putting a real working disk into a   
   > real working drive would be far more effective. So he stores a config   
   > file on each disk that contains information about the stream to be   
   > played (plus associated display artwork), that software can read from   
   > the drive.   
   >   
   > Since there is only a small amount of data to be read off each disk,   
   > the drive can work quite nicely off battery power. So it becomes a   
   > real remote control as in one that is remote, not connected to the TV   
   > by any wire. Albeit one that is not very easy to pick up, but never   
   > mind ...   
   >   
   >    
      
   This sent me down a rabbit hole of seeing how much and how easy it is to   
   get floppy disk drives and disks these days. I had no idea they were   
   still so readily available! Though looks like only the 3.5s are still   
   desired. Could be a fun backup option for my .md files I use for my   
   writing...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)