Norm is correct. I am in the business and we have to deal with this when it comes to RAM sizes and Hard Drive specs on a daily basis. We always convert back to actual bytes to make the comparisons even across all media. And in reference to the fact we are now up to Gbytes, it makes matters worse because it is now off by 1024x1024x1024 or 1,073,741,824 so a vendor that claims to support 500GB may only have 466GB actual capacity. Or looking at it the other way, to really have 500GB capacity, there should actually be 536,870,912,000 bytes capacity. We call them "marketing megabytes" and "marketing gigabytes"
Sam Norm of Bandersnatch wrote: > > > Expanding on my message. > > I understand decimal, hex and binary, that computers today use hex because > four bits (a nibble or half a byte) has sixteen possible conditions 0-F, > and that a byte has eight bits (two nibbles), a two digit hex number (00 > thru FF). Words can be several multiples of a byte. > > My point is that there are two definitions of Kilobytes. In one a > Kilobyte=1000bytes, in the other a Kilobyte=1054bytes and this dichotomy is > used to cheat people. > > If one describes a hard drive using the KB as equaling 1000bytes one can > come up with a slightly higher capacity number than if one used the KB as > equaling 1054bytes definition, thereby representing the hard drive one is > touting has a larger capacity than the competitions' product when in fact > it is the same. This is "Puffery": not quite illegal BS. > > End of Soap Box... > > > Norm > S/V Bandersnatch > Lying Julington Creek > 30 07.695N 081 38.484W > > > >> [Original Message] >> From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Date: 11/23/2008 4:32:29 PM >> Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] K and milli >> >>> Yes, using Kbytes=1000 bytes is called Puffery, used by sellers to make >>> their stuff look more valuable than it is. >>> >>> Norm >> REPLY >> Not so! >> It is based on the fact early computers used octal numbering instead of >> the decimal number system. This was simply a mathematical convenience to >> start with. Cobol and fortran used 8 bit words for coding. In fact so did >> Holorith punch cards. 8 columns of holes still fit a conventional office >> card that was used in those days. >> 8 x 8 = 64, 1024 /8 = 128 and any of the other numbers are also divisible >> by 8. 8 bits = one byte. >> Newer computers went to 16 bit words then 64 bit words. Encryptions are >> often 128 bit etc. Half a Gig of RAM is actually 512 bytes, divisible by 8 >> as well. >> >> Just think if we had started with a hexidecimal numbering system. BUT God >> gave us five fingers on each hand, so we naturally learned to count to >> base ten and thus was born the decimal system. <VBG> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html > -- **************************** Sam Densler mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.islandfx.com/lady S/V Lady of the Lake PDQ 36, Hull #15 Melbourne, FL S/V Stories She Could Tell Endeavour 37, Hull #454 Destroyed by Hurricane Frances 2004 Reborn and sailing again in 2007 **************************** "If you ever wonder why you ride the carousel, you do it for the stories you can tell." Jimmy Buffett "Stories We Could Tell" A1A _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
