Summary

Alternative Name(s): Floppy Discs

Eight 5¼-inch floppy disks in a cardboard box used by the donor in 1983 in Queensland in a Lisa computer. Some disks contain a backup of data on the Lisa's hard disk.

These floppy disks were known as 'Twiggy' disks because they were regarded as being slim. They were named after the 1960s English model, known as Twiggy (born Lesley Hornby), who was famous for her slimness.

Twiggy disk technology was the auxiliary storage used in the first version of the Lisa computer. The Lisa computer was the first commercially available computer to use the WIMP graphic user interface (Window Icon Menus Pointing device). Twiggy disks are rare - they were never used in any other computer.

Twiggy disks were double sided, which is unusual for 5¼ inch floppy disks, the prevailing technology of the time. The disk drive could read both sides. The technology proved to be unreliable and slow. The donor reports that it took 2-3 hours to boot up the operating system and retrieve the required data.

Twiggy technology was intended for the original Macintosh computer, but at an extremely late stage in its development, the Twiggy technology was withdrawn in favour of the single sided Sony 3½ inch floppy disk technology.

The Macintosh XL version of the Lisa adopted 3½ inch Sony floppy disk systems. The earlier versions could be modified to incorporate the 3½ inch floppy disk drive.

Physical Description

Cardboard box containing eight 5¼-inch floppy disks. Each disk is in a cardboard jacket.

Significance

Twiggy disk technology was the auxiliary storage used in the first version of the Lisa computer. The Lisa computer was the first commercially available computer to use the WIMP graphic user interface (Window Icon Menus Pointing device). Twiggy disks are rare - they were never used in any other computer.

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