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>Our new hardware product has a power switch that is labelled "O" for OFF and
"|" for ON. These are not a zero and a one, but a circle and a vertical line.
I've seen this labelling on a lot of electronic gadgets, including electronic
typewriters and word processors (and quite frankly was always confused about
what was on and what was off). A colleague suggested that these labels
represent the bits 0 and 1 and were derived from that. True?<
I always thought they represented an open switch (O -- note the hole) and a
closed switch (| - sides touching). I understand they're an international
standard, set by IEEE.
But they still confuse me, too.
David Jones, Technical Writer
David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- Datahub -dot- com
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate
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