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From: hansen@mips.UUCP (Craig Hansen)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Size of SysV "block" (really: byte != 8 bits)
Message-ID: <524@ollie.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-Jul-87 14:12:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: ollie.524
Posted: Thu Jul 16 14:12:31 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jul-87 13:46:43 EDT
References: <218@astra.necisa.oz> <142700010@tiger.UUCP> <2792@phri.UUCP> <6705@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Lines: 23
Summary: no, 2 bits is a peck

In article <6705@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>, davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
> >In article <142700010@tiger.UUCP> rjd@tiger.UUCP writes:
> >> O.K., I'll byte.  (oops, pun initially unintended.)   A byte IS eight bits!!!
> >> Maybe you are thinking of a word??  And a nibble is four bits, and a gulp is
> >> sixteen bits (or was this a mouthful?), etc....

> Let me clarify this:
>   8 bits is a byte
>   4 bits is a nybble
>   2 bits is a tayste (actually 2 bits is a quarter)

I had always heard 2 bits referred to as a "peck."

A word is whatever you say it is, whether 12, 16, 18, 32, 36, or 64 bits.

Has anyone seen a good name used for three 8-bit bytes? I've been using
"tri-byte", but could see it being shortened to "trite" or "tryte."

-- 
Craig Hansen
Manager, Architecture Development
MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
...decwrl!mips!hansen