Vintage Lighting floppy disk show file transfer to Nomad

[Moore.E]

In a few weeks, I will be working at a new venue and a project I will be working on is transferring an old show file to a nomad system. The old show file is on a floppy disk and my slow process would be looking at each cue and recreating it in a new file. Is there a way to take what is on a floppy disk and transfer or convert that into a USB or a file that a laptop with Nomad can interpret? I don't know if the old system was ETC eos or if it was something else.

Any input would help. This seems like a long process if there's no easier way to do it.

 

[techieman33]

It'll be impossible to know without knowing what console the old show file is from. But odds are pretty high that you'll need to use that old console or an offline editor for it and manually recreate the show.

 

[almorton]

If the old console can export as ASCII you might have a fighting chance.

 

[SteveB]

Contact ETC. They had DOS off-line software for the Expression series that read floppy, could export to ASCII. You could then import that to Nomad. It’s been so many years, I can’t recall the name of the Expression Off-Line software.

 

[derekleffew]

It’s been so many years, I can’t recall the name of the Expression Off-Line software.

The Expression Off-Line software was called...wait-for-it...Expression Off-Line. It was probably the most well-known and used OLE. Before EOL which I believe was for v2 and above, was ETCedit for Vision and ExpI family.

Expression Off-Line

When you want to create or modify a program but are not near your console, consider working off-line with Expression Off-Line. This handy program runs on a pc computer and emulates the function of …

support.etcconnect.com

 

[Crisp image]

My question is do you still have a floppy disk drive to read it?

 

[SteveB]

The Expression Off-Line software was called...wait-for-it...Expression Off-Line. It was probably the most well-known and used OLE. Before EOL which I believe was for v2 and above, was ETCedit for Vision and ExpI family.

Expression Off-Line

When you want to create or modify a program but are not near your console, consider working off-line with Expression Off-Line. This handy program runs on a pc computer and emulates the function of …

support.etcconnect.com

That made me laugh. I put everything I knew about lighting and theater into an unused storage bin in my brain when I retired. Literally. It’s a case of CRS for sure.

 

[FMEng]

My question is do you still have a floppy disk drive to read it?

Finding a drive is a problem. Old floppies seem to often deteriorate and become unreadable, too. I used to buy quality disks, but they never lasted more than a few years.

 

[derekleffew]

In 2008 with the news of the discontinuation of the Express also came the announcement that Fred Foster, then president of ETC, had purchased "several pallets" of 3.5" floppy disks. Who knows what the shelf-life of a NIB disk is?

 

[TimMc]

My experience with double-density, double sided 3.5" diskettes is they "age" badly even under environmental control.

USB-connected floppy drives are likely still available, and if you get a IDE to USB or SATA converter, you can use a salvaged floppy drive from a really old computer, too.

 

[Dionysus]

My experience with double-density, double sided 3.5" diskettes is they "age" badly even under environmental control.

USB-connected floppy drives are likely still available, and if you get a IDE to USB or SATA converter, you can use a salvaged floppy drive from a really old computer, too.

Yeah I've kept a USB Floppy drive around for a long time. Thankfully only need it once in a blue moon, but it has been handy indeed to salvage some old data.
Interpreting the old show file on the disk as said is the hard part when you have no idea what console it is... Might need to open it up in a text editor and see what comes out and how hard it is to interpret.

 

[brucek]

Boy do I wish I didn't still need a floppy....but I use one all the time. I have had good luck with generic USB floppy drives. Of course lots of the older software won't run on 64 bit os's so Oracle virtual box is very much my friend.

 

[techieman33]

floppydisk.com has your back. They have new and used (tested) disks and usb drives available. And if you have new ones laying around they'll buy them from you. And reimburse you for shipping if you send in used ones.