22 Jan
1999
22 Jan
'99
12:05 p.m.
Every computer that I've ever owned, When it does a memory test of "1
megabyte", the listing is always
1024KB......OK.
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, January 22, 1999 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: Reiability of wrong media (was: is out of 5-1/4" diskettes
Find me an
authoritative reference that defines a megabyte as 1024 * 1024
bytes and I'll eat a pancake.
I don't know how 'authoritative' you need, but will an IBM TechRef do?
The PC/AT one that I've just picked up says :
M (1) Prefix mega; 1,000,000. (2) When refering to computer storage
capacity, 1,048,576 (1,048,576= 2 to the 20th power)
Also
Mb 1,048,576 bytes.
Incidentaly, it also defines
Gb 1,073,741,824 bytes (=2^30 ARD)
Can you find a reference (other than an advert :-)) that defines it any
other way?
Anyway, I might accept that 1Mbyte = 10^6 bytes, particularly if you
happen to have a decimal or BCD machine :-) (this is classiccmp). But I
don't see any justification for making it 1024000 bytes. And that's the
only way you can have '1.44Mbytes' on a HD 3.5" disk
-tony