Floppy disk emulator
A floppy disk emulator is a common floppy disk drive upgrade in which the new drive emulates a mechanical floppy disk drive. Floppy disk emulators typically replace the floppy diskette with a solid state USB flash memory stick. The new floppy disk emulator drive is fully compatible with the legacy floppy disk drive it replaces.
History
Embroidery machines built from the 1970s until the mid 2000s often used a floppy disk drive to input data to the machine. When compared to newer storage technologies, floppy disks are fragile and prone to dysfunction. An alternative is a floppy drive hardware upgrade in which a floppy disk emulator is used to replace the older disk-based medium with a newer storage medium.
Floppy disks and floppy disk drives have been phasing out of production, but replacing older, industrial machinery and working systems with newer storage technology is often far more expensive that the floppy drive upgrade option.
See also
Floppy To USB
Floppy To USB is a USB upgrade that Emulates a floppy disk drive. The device looks like a floppy disk drive but instead of having a port for the floppy it has a USB drive. The device reads off the USB stick and the emulator talks to the computer as if it was a normal floppy drive. This are very popular amongst older, very expensive industrial or commercial type equipment.