prefix (SI or binary) should coincide with numerical value

[robatino]

Transmission is currently using SI prefixes for file sizes, and possibly in other places such as transfer rates, even though the intended sizes are binary. For example, when Transmission says a file size is "1 GB", it actually means 2^30 bytes, not 10^9 as the SI prefix implies. The simplest fix is to replace SI prefixes with binary ones everywhere that binary values are being used. I remember that a while back, there was a single release of Transmission that used binary prefixes, but it was reverted.

[hippy dave]

meh. computing terminology doesn't always match "scientific" terminology. it's a bit late to change something that's been standard for decades imho.

[robatino]

There's no reason not to put the extra "i" in where it belongs (for example GiB instead of GB). People who know the difference wouldn't have to guess the meaning anymore, and those who don't would just interpret it the same way and no harm done. And even in computing hardware, it's not standard - hard drives, networking, and DVDs use SI values, while memory and CDs use binary values, even though they're usually written with SI prefixes. I have no idea whether Transmission displays transfer rates using SI or binary values - on the one hand, SI is standard in networking (when an ISP refers to Mbps, it's 10^6, not 2^20), so that's plausible, but who knows. If the prefixes always matched the values, it would be obvious.

[hippy dave]

I have no idea whether Transmission displays transfer rates using SI or binary values

always binary.

now you know, problem solved

[hippy dave]

..media manufacturers have always gone against otherwise standard computing conventions, by using decimal instead of binary units in order to make their stuff sound bigger/better. this has always been a source of annoyance for people geeky enough to understand, and confusion for others. don't let the bastards win!

[robatino]

always binary.

How did you find out? If this is true, it goes against the standard computing convention of specifying transfer speeds in SI units. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_pre ... lock_rates

This wouldn't be a big deal if binary prefixes were used so it was clear what the units were.

Edit: I'm looking at gnome-system-monitor in Fedora 12. Everything (file sizes, RAM, network transfer rates) is shown with binary prefixes. No trouble understanding what anything means.

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GNOME ... k_rate.png

[hippy dave]

If this is true, it goes against the standard computing convention of specifying transfer speeds in SI units.

not in this context. when a piece of software tells you the speed it's transferring data at, it's absolutely always (in my reasonably extensive experience) in binary units. and it's only recently that some people have decided it's a good idea to use "KiB"-type prefixes instead of the "KB"-types which were standard for this purpose since the beginning. don't expect this to become universal, do expect it to cause more confusion and endless internet arguments.

anyway, transmission uses binary units for everything, and it uses the traditional (in computing) prefixes for doing so. i've yet to see the transmission devs respond to this type of thread, so i'm guessing they have no interest in changing.

[robatino]

It does make sense to use binary numbers for file sizes, since some forms of storage (for example RAM) are most naturally built in binary sizes, and it's safe to say that no form of storage is naturally built in a decimal size. And it's perfectly reasonable to measure transfer speeds using the same size units (regardless of convention), since if one wanted to do a mental calculation of how long a transfer would take, it might be easier this way (for example transferring a 700 MiB file at 1 MiB/s will take exactly 700 seconds). So I have no problem with consistently using binary numbers everywhere in this type of software. But using binary prefixes to match would eliminate any possible confusion as to what the numbers mean, since SI prefixes are often used with binary numbers, but no one uses binary prefixes with SI numbers. And the binary prefixes are visually almost identical to the SI ones.

Edit: Flash drives are interesting - like RAM, the exact amount of physical memory is binary, but unlike RAM, some of it is used up for internal functions, so the advertised size is in SI units (exploiting the difference between the SI and binary sizes). The exact amount available is somewhere between the SI and binary sizes. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_pre ... ash_drives