[Info-vax] Micro Focus to be acquired by Open Text

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2022-09-02 16:45, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 9/2/2022 10:33 AM, John Dallman wrote:
>> In article <63120065$0$705$14726298 at news.sunsite.dk>, arne at vajhoej.dk
>> (Arne Vajhøj) wrote:
>>
>>> What about CDC Display code?
>>>
>>> :-)
>>>
>>> Hint: 6 bit! (well 6 or 6/12 bit)
>>
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_display_code> That's ... well, it
>> looks insane to me, but I presume it was at least somewhat suited to the
>> needs of the time. I don't believe the 63- and 64-character variations
>> can ever have been a good idea, though.
> 
> It sort of made sense as the CDC system at the time operated on 60 bit
> entities (18 bit addresses of 60 bit words).
> 
> 10 characters of 6 bits in a 60 bit word is manageable.
> 
> 5-10 characters of 6/12 bits in a 60 bit word is somewhat manageable.
> 
> 7.5 characters of 8 bit in a 60 bit word is not fun.

Just waiting for someone to bring up the PDP-10 now. Bytes are of 
variable length in the hardware, but 5 7-bit bytes in one word was 
common, with just one wasted bit per word.
But again, 8-bit bytes would waste 4 bits per word...

   Johnny