Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 09:45:09 +0200 From: Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za> To: Stephen McKay <syssgm@devetir.qld.gov.au> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Memory configuration of ftp.cdrom.com Message-ID: <199601310745.JAA01866@grumble.grondar.za>
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Stephen McKay wrote: > Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za> typed: > >BTW - Mb = Megabit, MB = Megabyte - the above mb means millibit. > > I've always been bothered by this megabit/megabyte confusion. By what > authority do you claim that b == bit and B == byte? <Gulp> None whatsoever, except consistent usage in literature. I work for an ISP as a net engineer, and we distinguish between our pipes (measured in Mb/s) and our server memory/disk capacity (measured in MB or GB). > In my younger days, no one was particularly interested in bits, and Mb meant > megabyte. It's all this new fangled networking stuff that has brought bits > back into the spotlight. Dunno... I sorta remember 'b' always meaning bits and 'B' meaning bytes. At this stage I was reading British electronics magazines (Elektor and the like), and they are usually pretty good at sticking to standards. I have never actually _seen_ any document that stated with great authority that "this means 'bits' and that means 'bytes'". That was left either as an exercise for the reader, or was listed in one of those "jargon for the computing idiot" lists that came out every now-and-then. (hmm.. thinks - (just had a look) there is no reference in the Jargon File) > Still, should I quibble over this when I can still buy cans of food marked > 450gm. Gram metres must be useful for something, but not measuring food. :-) I once bought pills (Aspirin I think) that claimed to have a ton of the stuff per tablet (1Mg) :-). M -- Mark Murray 46 Harvey Rd, Claremont, Cape Town 7700, South Africa +27 21 61-3768 GMT+0200 Finger mark@grondar.za for PGP key
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