Orbit MFD Distance Units?

[Atom]

It's not like me to ask questions (sensible ones anyway) but:
On the Orbit MFD what does the 'M' stand for after the orbit info?

[freespace2dotcom]

har, har, har. *laughs hard*

At first I was like: WTF is he talking about, I see no data labeled as "M." and then I saw the capial "M" after the
orbital data.

*poses sarcastically*

Listen, young one. That "M" is just like the "K" you see after the data. The only difference is that is stands for "Mega"
instead of "Kilo" so basically, It means a million units instead of a thousand. Remember computer data storage.
Kilobyte, Megabyte, then Gigabyte and so on.  I'm so happy I know engineering notation. since "Megameter" sounds
funny, a million meters, or a thousand kilometers are more "ear pleasing" ways of saying it... but that's what it means.

[Simonpro]

Erm, dont computers use kbytes=1024 bytes and Mbytes=1024kbytes?
Also, it isnt a capital k, that stands for something else.

[Krytom]

Yeah, Kelvin. Temperature measured form absolute zero.

[Atom]

Typo!

[freespace2dotcom]

About there being 1024 bytes in a kilobyte.. Well, that's not something easily explained unless you know binary.
(that's a number system with a base of 2 unlike our base 10 system, decimal) so basically, a number can be a 0, or a
1. Computers run on binary, and although you can get 1000 if you wanted, it's not a natural power of 2, which is
important when dealing in binary. powers of 2 are 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024. And so on..  since
1024 is a natural power of 2, and it's fairly close to 1000. We just take that for a kilobyte. Interesting to note, though,
is that a byte is simply 8 bits. When you think about it, computers aren't really metric at all, are they? (hehehe)

If you've ever bought a hard drive, you'll note that hard drive manufacturers assume that a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes even, and so when they advertize 120 gigabytes, it's somewhat less that you would think, about 5-6 gigabytes short. It depends on the manufacturer.



Post Edited ( 05-23-04 10:53 )

[Krytom]

That explains a lot.

[freespace2dotcom]

Yeah, it's cool, isn't it? But when you get into boolean equations, the headeaches start coming. and then add all the
different kinds of integrated circuits. you get solid 24 hour migraines.

[Simonpro]

Who said computers were ever meant to be metric?
Computers were around before the metric system came into popular use, and it would be much harder to create a
decimal system rather than a binary system.

[freespace2dotcom]

darn tootin', simon! Actually, a bit of trivia for you all, binary logic in computers work like this: If it's 0 volts, then it's a
digital 0. If it's 5 Volts, then it's a digital 1. originally, when trying to create the digital system, scientists tried to create
various voltage levels to indicate a decimal system. But the problem was that the voltages weren't steady, causing
a "6" to be read as "5" or vice versa. I like binary. It proves that not everything *has* to be in base ten. although it's
really a matter of preference.

[Simonpro]

Erm, i know
I was just pointing out that computers were never meant to be metric, and will probably never be metric.
Not everything in computers sues 5volts, by the way.
Most spacecraft computers dont, for starters

[freespace2dotcom]

eeer. I was merely pointing that out to everybody, but of course, computers themselves use some varieties of
voltages, but digital logic is predominantly 5V.



Post Edited ( 05-23-04 23:53 )

[Simonpro]

My logic is primarily pasta powered, but thats another story.

[McBrain]

LOL!!!

[freespace2dotcom]

Oh, don't start about that. Mine is ramen noodles and soda. but everybody's got their own..

[Atom]

I'm happy, I flew from ISS to a near Geo-Stationary orbit and back to the ISS. (First time docking with the
ISS).

You will probably take the micky, but I don't care.



Post Edited ( 05-24-04 17:18 )

[H_Speed]

010101010101010 0101010101010 0101 010101010101010 0101.....dats wut I got to say bout that!