On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Christopher Chan <christopher.c...@bradbury.edu.hk> wrote: > RAM comes in multiples of 1024. Network throughput is also in multiples > of 1024. Disk storage is expressed in multiples of 1024 under any > operating system. base-10 kilobytes/kilobits/whateverbytes/whateverbits > are only used by disk manufacturers (hence the 'discrepancy' between > that the label on the disk says and what the operating system says) and > misconceptions of certain network equipment manufacturers (eg: > 100megabit/1000megabit) being base-10.
Bit rate is measured in base 10: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rate > Each block on disk remains 512 bits (half a proper kilobyte) and so > going for base-10 kilobytes requires translation while using proper > kilobytes requires no translation. > > base-10 kilobytes/megabytes/gigabytes have no place in software. They > belong solely on hard disk labels along with their footnote indicating > that they are the wrong kilobyte/megabyte/gigabyte definition. Base 10 is easier to calculate for humans. Try calculating the sum of 754 MiB and 1.42 GiB without using a calculator. If the conversion is done properly by Nautilus, it should be no problem. At the moment, Nautilus lies to us: it talks about MBs, while in fact they are those pesky MiBs. Remco -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
