[mythtv] how to get "Extra Disk Space" setting?

Richard Gering rg4myth at dutchies.us
Wed Jan 20 03:27:48 UTC 2016


Jean-Yves,

Please don't get me wrong: I am a *HUGE* proponent of the SI system and will use it anywhere I can.

However, you can't disagree that changing the meaning of a term in an industry where it had a different meaning (making it contextual, I agree) has left a mess. Point in case: MythTV. There are still spots where GB means GiB. The values are even presented differently between localized versions. And whenever a release is updated to do the right thing, you end up with a period of miscommunication discussing different releases of the software.

Some time from now this will all become moot, and GB references will consistently be SI-based with GiB being its 2-base counterpart, but right now it is messy, even in the world of standards. (Check out the memory size definitions in JEDEC Standard 100B.01, which first describes the commonly used 2-base values, then tries to deprecate its use in favor of IEC prefixes but subsequently doesn't include those prefixes in its list of general terms and definitions.)

All the best,

- Richard.

P.S. I'm afraid that I'm not quite following your kilometer example. It's 1000 meters and always has been, so no chance of confusion there, no?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jean-Yves Avenard" <jyavenard at gmail.com>
To: "MythTV-dev" <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 5:11:47 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtv] how to get "Extra Disk Space" setting?

On 20 January 2016 at 11:53, Richard Gering <rg4myth at dutchies.us> wrote:
> Spot on! To (mis)quote Obi-wan: "Use the source, Luke". You did well :-)
>
> <soapbox>
>
> Whomever thought it was a good idea to come up with GiB to mean a 1024-based
> value and re-purpose GB to mean a 1000-based one did the computing world a
> disservice. The (ab)use of the SI multipliers K, M and G to mean a
> 1024-based value in describing computer memory size started LONG before the
> hard-disk industry started pushing 1000-based numbers, likely to make their
> disks look larger than they actually were.

totally disagree.
Using G/M/K to mean 1024 was wrong to start with.

Welcomed correction.

It's not a re-purpose, GB was never meant to mean 1073741824 bytes.

>
> Yes, it is technically more correct to have GB be 1000-based (10-base)

it is not "more correct". It is just correct. Standards are standards.
They mean one thing. Not to change a value according to the context in
which it is used.

[more nonsense deleted]

I wonder how you would have called a kilometre. because really, kilo
shouldn't mean 1000 to avoid confusion.
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