Re: the baud situation

From: Luis Martins <ciencias_at_netcabo.pt>
Date: Thu 18 Oct 2001 16:32:55 -0500

JIM REARDON <jim_at_amusive.com> WROTE:

>Actually, you're wrong. My dictionary says this:
>baud (b=F4d)
>n. Computer Science
>A unit of speed in data transmission equal to one bit
>per second

AND THEN ROB WOODHEAD SAID:

> The dictionary is incorrect. 1 BAUD is a unit of data
> transmission equivalent to one "state transition" per
> second. However, if there are multiple states available,
> each transition can contain multiple bits.
>
> A binary digital signal has only two states, on and off,
> so in this case, bits per second = baud.
>
> This was the case in the early days of modems, but
> current modems have multiple states per transition, so
> their baud rate is lower than their bit rate. IIRC
> (and it's early), the current crop are running at 4800
> baud. A 28.8 modem thus uses 6 transition states, and a
> 56k uses 12.
>
> A "56k baud modem" is a corruption, but its one of those
> things that happens in the language all the time, and
> getting too upset about it is silly. After all, when was
> the last time you really "dialed" a phone?

Fellas:

Debating over a figure of speech is rather frinolous,
don't you think?

Luis Martins



Received on Thu Oct 18 2001 - 16:32:55 CDT