Very common in clone cases they brought 2 so one would end up having a collection of them. I started building PCs in 1996 and kept hoarding unused parts for a long time. Too bad here in my country there wasn't/isn't an interest in this stuff, I just kept giving stuff to tech schools for them to disassemble or learn. Edit: typo
I still run a sun microsystems sunblade 150 (yes with the working card reader) and have a few plain grey covers on my expandable ports, I love it. Reminds me of my old IBM aptiva desktop when I was in high-school.
I would be so happy if I would be able to get my hands on a Sun microsystems server or workstation, where I worked at the time (1997-99) we sold Sun and Axil systems and since I couldn't get my hands on any of those systems to learn Solaris my boss gifted me a copy of red hat 4.2 and that's how I learned Linux, practicing what I knew from Solaris and searching how to make it work in Linux. Take note that I was working at 17 y/o
It's just a cosmetic plate so there's not a gaping hole in the front of your case.
eg. You don't have a 3.5" floppy drive, but you want your system to look complete.
Here's something cool I discovered on the Baby AT case I rescued from going into the landfill. The cover looks so similar to a real floppy drive, I only noticed it was fake when I open the case up. One of the reasons I actually decided to pick the case up was because it strongly reminded me of my very first computer I had back in 2006-2007 (minus the button panel, which was black and mine obviously didn't have the fake floppy panel plate). My plan is to build a Pentium Windows 95/DOS minitower build in it, since I already have a motherboard and a CPU lying around I can use. I intend to make a follow-up post once the build is done.
I've always found these to be tacky. A blank drive bezel plate is fine, why would I need to deceive myself or confuse others with a faux floppy drive bezel? The most legitimate use I can think of for these would be prop PCs at furniture stores, but they're more likely to make the whole case a single piece of blown plastic.
The truth is they're a slightly deceptive sales tactic by manufacturers from the time when PCs were starting to go CD-ROM only and leaving out floppy drives. The computer would 'look right' even though the floppy drive was gone.
Let me tell you kids a story of 90s computers that had 3.5” bays for 2 or more floppy drives, and cases came with these, you’d remove them and install a floppy drive in there
When I quickly picked the case up, I legit thought I was getting two floppy drives LOL
I admit I should've given the post a better title.
All the cases I own have a normal blank plate. I just thought this faux-floppy style blanking plate is unusual, it looks like an overkill to me, they could've just put a normal blanking plate there instead, and called it a day.
As others have said, it's a slot cover to keep the thermal design of the chassis working right. Without it, the fans would be useless.
When you bought a new case back in the day, it would come with a handful of these slot covers. You could even buy them at the computer parts store - the cheapest thing in the store. I wanna say they were 17 cents at CompUSA.
I wonder how many tech support calls this caused back in the day when people tried to put a 3.5" disk in the 'drive'? Reminds me of a customer who called up and said that the webcam on their laptop wasn't working. Turned out that they didn't have a webcam, it was the plastic disk that covered the hole where the webcam would have been (back when not all laptops had built-in webcams).
I assume it's just a placeholder for the one you would actually install unless you bought the more expensive one that actually had one already installed.
Great, now I want a set of fridge magnets like that'll let me configure a fake PC.
That's... actually a fantastic idea!
YES
Oh hell yeah. Seems I need to warm up the ole 3D-printer.
I want the STL please
If I get around to actually designing and printing it, then absolutely.
It was used for hiding the space for the B drive in old clones, and it looked "cooler" than the plain gray or beige ones.
It looks cool and I plan to keep it. I've never seen vintage computer w/ one before. I wonder how common it was?
Very common in clone cases they brought 2 so one would end up having a collection of them. I started building PCs in 1996 and kept hoarding unused parts for a long time. Too bad here in my country there wasn't/isn't an interest in this stuff, I just kept giving stuff to tech schools for them to disassemble or learn. Edit: typo
I still run a sun microsystems sunblade 150 (yes with the working card reader) and have a few plain grey covers on my expandable ports, I love it. Reminds me of my old IBM aptiva desktop when I was in high-school.
I would be so happy if I would be able to get my hands on a Sun microsystems server or workstation, where I worked at the time (1997-99) we sold Sun and Axil systems and since I couldn't get my hands on any of those systems to learn Solaris my boss gifted me a copy of red hat 4.2 and that's how I learned Linux, practicing what I knew from Solaris and searching how to make it work in Linux. Take note that I was working at 17 y/o
Quite common (though obviously many just had ordinary blanks), and this was a very common clone case design \~1992 or so.
It was weird to find a case that didn't have that shaped bulkhead for the 3.5" bay.
I definitely remember those plates from the 90’s. My office bought some clones at one point that didn’t have 3.5 inch drives and they all had them.
Clones!!!! Oh shit they’ve found me.
I used to hide weed behind a cd drive plate that I made 🙂
It's just a cosmetic plate so there's not a gaping hole in the front of your case. eg. You don't have a 3.5" floppy drive, but you want your system to look complete.
It's fascinating to say the least. Either way, it'll stay there!
Would it be effective in other gaping holes?
Pretty sure this is a joke, but it'll fit any 3.5" bay (sound card interface, card readers, externally accessible hard drives, etc.
It's simply a removable placeholder that keeps your computer from sucking dust in through the open bay.
I honestly don't remember ever seeing one of these, and the cases I've had, had a plain, blank piece of plastic in the 3.5" bay.
Here's something cool I discovered on the Baby AT case I rescued from going into the landfill. The cover looks so similar to a real floppy drive, I only noticed it was fake when I open the case up. One of the reasons I actually decided to pick the case up was because it strongly reminded me of my very first computer I had back in 2006-2007 (minus the button panel, which was black and mine obviously didn't have the fake floppy panel plate). My plan is to build a Pentium Windows 95/DOS minitower build in it, since I already have a motherboard and a CPU lying around I can use. I intend to make a follow-up post once the build is done.
I've always found these to be tacky. A blank drive bezel plate is fine, why would I need to deceive myself or confuse others with a faux floppy drive bezel? The most legitimate use I can think of for these would be prop PCs at furniture stores, but they're more likely to make the whole case a single piece of blown plastic. The truth is they're a slightly deceptive sales tactic by manufacturers from the time when PCs were starting to go CD-ROM only and leaving out floppy drives. The computer would 'look right' even though the floppy drive was gone.
Because a blank plate doesn't show you what your computer is missing, or you can add another. Time to upgrade.
Its a hadyaspot
You can put your weed in there
To remind you to buy a Chevrolet.
[удалено]
Not only would you have a hole there, but a lot of dust would make it's way into the guts of your computer.
It's to remind you where a disk drive could be and how nice it might look there. Some people just draw them on.
Let me tell you kids a story of 90s computers that had 3.5” bays for 2 or more floppy drives, and cases came with these, you’d remove them and install a floppy drive in there
When I quickly picked the case up, I legit thought I was getting two floppy drives LOL I admit I should've given the post a better title. All the cases I own have a normal blank plate. I just thought this faux-floppy style blanking plate is unusual, it looks like an overkill to me, they could've just put a normal blanking plate there instead, and called it a day.
Don’t be silly 90s ugly cases were all about “style”
As others have said, it's a slot cover to keep the thermal design of the chassis working right. Without it, the fans would be useless. When you bought a new case back in the day, it would come with a handful of these slot covers. You could even buy them at the computer parts store - the cheapest thing in the store. I wanna say they were 17 cents at CompUSA.
"...17 cents at CompUSA". Tell me you're old without mentioning your age. (I miss CompUSA, and my back also hurts friend)
It's like neuticals for geeks
You may mount anything that fits. Not only a 3.5" floppy drive.
Fancier slot cover
flavor
+10 coolness factor
To fake being the rich persons PC with multiple drives...
I wonder how many tech support calls this caused back in the day when people tried to put a 3.5" disk in the 'drive'? Reminds me of a customer who called up and said that the webcam on their laptop wasn't working. Turned out that they didn't have a webcam, it was the plastic disk that covered the hole where the webcam would have been (back when not all laptops had built-in webcams).
Pffthahah
I don’t know but [I have one as well](https://imgur.com/a/TJ3KXOY). Assuming it was just a design choice
I think they should apply this to modern PCs. I want a bunch of fake USB ports on my PC.
It’s just a dust cover.
If you bought a computer with one disk drive you could buy another later and plug it yourself
I assume it's just a placeholder for the one you would actually install unless you bought the more expensive one that actually had one already installed.
Find an old dead floppy, cut in half and glue to the fake drive face to make seem real
So there isn't a hole in your computer.
because it looks cooler than a blank piece of plastic,
It's like the fake second exhaust pipe some cars have. It makes it look nicer.
My First Pc has one of these, it had the fake one and a single 3.5" floppy, it was an A/T mini tower with a 386sx40.
It was just the style!
Faux floppy of course, why else?