General Chat

This is a stupid question I know but I am a computer dinosaur. I am about to buy a Cd with 1891 census for North Yorks and South Durham on and it gives all the details screen resolution etc--and it say's 98MB of free hard drive required. Are Gigabytes bigger than Megabytes is my question? Ann,Darlington

98Mb is about one-tenth of a gigabyte.

Dear Ann Yes, gigabytes are bigger than megabytes. Most computer systems today have a lot of storage space on the hard drive. My laptop for instance has 10 gigabytes of storage. It is nearly 2 years old, so more up to date computers have even more storage now. If you need 98 megabytes of free hard drive space, you should have no trouble at all.

A megabyte is 1000 Bytes (1024 actually), and a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes (1024). If you have a fairly new PC (less than 5 years old) 98mb shouldn't be a problem for you.

Thanks for your help--wish I was as brainy Thanks Ann

With all this memory around, I am amazed at what was possible, with my old BBC. with only 16K of useable memory, and the 48K spectrum.........wow!!!!!!!.....Bob

Sorry to contradict Paul, But 1kilobite = 1,000bites 1 megabite = 1,000,000 1 gigabite = 1,000,000,000 I know 1 kilo is 1024 and this is multiplied up but 0 are easier. Bob

Web Definition: megabyte - MB - 220 bytes = 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024 kilobytes. Used to measure computer memory. Sometimes used to mean 1 million bytes. www(dot)redhat(dot)com(dash)docs(dash)glossary

Bob in Bretton My ZX81 had 1Kb!

OK look I hate to be pedantic but.... Yes it's easier to just multiply by 1000, but factually it's 1024. The following I found on google... Point one and 4 are correct, IBM and Microsoft are trying to simplify for the masses, but technically speaking they're wrong. 1) As a measure of computer processor storage and real and virtual memory, a megabyte (abbreviated MB) is 2 to the 20th power bytes, or 1,048,576 bytes in decimal notation. 2) According to the IBM Dictionary of Computing, when used to describe disk storage capacity and transmission rates, a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes in decimal notation. 3) According to the Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary, a megabyte means either 1,000,000 bytes or 1,048,576 bytes. 4) According to Eric S. Raymond in The New Hacker's Dictionary, a megabyte is always 1,048,576 bytes on the argument that bytes should naturally be computed in powers of two.

Geoff, I believe that your tele screen used to go blank, while the zx, did a calculation? LOL happy days.... These days even a windows shortcut occupies 16k!...bob

I had a 48k Spectrum too, the one with the horrible rubber keyboard ? Didn't do much with it apart from play games though. Manic Miner anyone ?

yes, I think I convinced my parents that it would be educational, and they stumped up half the cash (the other half being funded by my paper round :o) but I just played games too. So it didn't help my career at all - even though I did end up in IT (one of lifes little coincidences).

I remember going on a course to learn to program the ZX81. If you want to look back with affection try http://www.old-computers(.)com Bob