lkml.org 
[lkml]   [2001]   [Sep]   [3]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
SubjectRe: [parisc-linux] documented Oops running big-endian reiserfs on parisc architecture
Date
From
"David S. Miller" <davem@redhat.com> said:
> IP header length is measured in octets, so how is this possible?
> :-)

1 octet == 8 bits in RFC-speak. "Byte" is the name given to character
units. There were machines around with non-8-bit bytes. AFAIR, DEC PDP-10
had the options of 6, 7, or 8 bits/byte in 36 bit words. Purely historical
now, since (AFAIK) everybody has agreed with IBM (S/360?) that 1 byte == 8
bits. As Brian Reid (IIRC) used to say: "It is spelled 'o-c-t-e-t' and
pronounced 'byte'"
--
Horst von Brand vonbrand@sleipnir.valparaiso.cl
Casilla 9G, Vin~a del Mar, Chile +56 32 672616

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:02    [W:0.103 / U:0.320 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site