[RndTbl] Linus and ECC

[Hartmut W Sager]

> It looks like Trevor gained root access to Linus!

Good one!

I looked at the thread, and it looks like people's "memory" doesn't go back
far enough.  The original IBM PC (and later XT and AT), consumer computers
do note, did use 9-bit bytes, with a simple parity bit for each 8-bit
byte.  Many PC clones, though, soon went for 8-bit RAM (no parity) to save
costs.

ECC on a per byte basis requires 11 bits, but ECC on a much larger block
basis is more efficient, with the typical later implementation being 72-bit
DRAM providing ECC to 64-bit data.

For those who might not know, first level ECC allows single-bit-error
detection and correction, and double-bit-error detection.

While I'm sure of the validity of this whole thread (and the claims of
"why"), it was different in the beginning of the PC era (1980+), where
Intel was pretty neutral and IBM applied their mainframe computing
robustness principles.

BTW, I've always been a parity/ECC fan!  Every desktop I ever owned had
this protection.  As for my current laptops ..... shame!

Hartmut W Sager - Tel +1-204-339-8331


On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 at 20:18, Alberto Abrao <alberto at abrao.net> wrote:

> It looks like Trevor gained root access to Linus!
>
> https://www.realworldtech.com/forum/?threadid=198497&curpostid=198647
> --
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my
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