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@abrao.net wrote:
It looks like Trevor gained root access to Linus!
https://www.realworldtech.com/forum/?threadid=198497&curpostid=198647
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