--- "Carlini, Antonio" <Antonio.Carlini_at_riverstonenet.com> wrote:
>
> > Ethan Dicks wrote:
> >
> >--- "Carlini, Antonio" <Antonio.Carlini_at_riverstonenet.com> wrote:
> >> reading OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, OFF, OFF, ON
> >> (which is 21 in BCD - no, I don't know why!)
> >
> >What doesn't make sense?
>
> The use of BCD ... what's wrong with
> good old binary! I guess they were
> trying to make it easier for
> the hard of counting.
Probably, since the MicroVAX-II and others used a hex code at the
back panel, and binary LEDs on the card edge.
Maybe they were worried about "is that 2E or 2F" vs easy to distinguish
decimal digits (especially if you chose your codes to avoid "0" vs "8"
type confusion, etc.)
-ethan
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Received on Fri Mar 29 2002 - 13:30:34 GMT