Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: Size of SysV "block" (really: byte != 8 bits) Message-ID: <8315@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Fri, 17-Jul-87 15:54:17 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.8315 Posted: Fri Jul 17 15:54:17 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jul-87 15:54:17 EDT References: <218@astra.necisa.oz> <142700010@tiger.UUCP>, <2792@phri.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 16 > On a DEC-10/20, for example, a byte can reasonably be anything from > 1 (0?) to 36 (35?) bits; 6, 7, and 9 bit bytes are all quite common... Another example worth mentioning is the BBN C/70 and its kin, which have 10-bit bytes as I recall. This isn't quite the same situation as the DEC-20, which has 36-bit words and a rather fuzzy notion of (sort of) bitfields within them; on the C/70, the division of memory into bytes is just as fixed as it is on (say) a VAX, but the bytes are 10 bits wide, no more, no less. There are also machines with 9-bit bytes, although one seldom sees them in the Unix world. And then there's the PDP-8, where you get your choice of 12-bit bytes (ugh) or 6-bit bytes (ARGH)... -- Support sustained spaceflight: fight | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology the soi-disant "Planetary Society"! | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry