Re: [MiNT] 2 GB != 2 GB

[Stefan Berndtsson <stefan@nocrew.org>]

"George Crissman" <strads@tmisnet.com> writes:

> > From: Stefan Berndtsson <stefan@nocrew.org>
> > To: George Crissman <strads@tmisnet.com>
> > Cc: mint@fishpool.com
> > Subject: Re: [MiNT] 2 GB != 2 GB
> > Date: Monday, March 20, 2000 11:18 AM
> > 
> > "George Crissman" <strads@tmisnet.com> writes:
> > 
> > > > 2 GB = 2048 MB = 2097152 kb = 2147483648 Byte
> > > > Tschuess
> > > >    ...Frank
> > > 
> > > A minor point:
> > > 
> > > 2 Gigabytes of RAM is 2,147,483,648 Bytes
> > > 2 Gigabytes of Disc is 2,000,000,000 Bytes
> > 
> > No, 2 Gigabytes of Disc is 2,147,483,648 bytes,
> > and 2 Gigabytes of a Disc-partition is 2,147,483,648 bytes.
> > 
> > 2 Gigabytes of selling motivation from companies is 2,000,000,000 bytes.
> > 
> > Whatever any company tell you, 2 Gigabytes on any disk you use in
> > any system that I know of, won't ever be 2,000,000,000 bytes.
> 
> The disc drive companies use base 10, so 2 Gigabytes
> would be 2E09 bytes.

Yes, that's what I said.. _Companies_ use base 10, none of the
more frequently used systems in the world that I know of does.

> RAM manufacturers use base 2, so 2 Gigabytes would be
> 2.147etcE09 bytes.
> 
> We had that problem with a program that was guaranteed to
> install in "10 Megabytes" of disc space, but actually occupied
> more than 11 -- there was a lot of hair-pulling over that incident.

This is an incorrect statement. Saving 100MB of RAM to disc does
not make the data 104.8576MB.

When you format and partition and save and access a disk, your
system counts in base 2. You can try to convince yourself to
any extent that is does not, but that will not change in any way
how it really works.

If this causes you to perform hair pulling, I would recommend
that you stop trying to convince yourself what you seem to
do, because it won't help you in any way.

/Stefan