dread high bit disease
<character> A condition endemic to PRIME (also known as "PR1ME")
minicomputers that results in all the characters having their high bit (0x80,
see meta bit) ON rather than OFF. This complicates transporting files to other
systems and talking to true 8-bit devices. Folklore had it that PRIME adopted
the convention in order to save 25 cents per serial line per machine; PRIME
old-timers, on the other hand, claim they inherited the disease from Honeywell
via customer NASA's compatibility requirements and struggled heroically to cure
it. Whoever was responsible, this probably qualifies as one of the most
cretinous design tradeoffs ever made. A few other machines have exhibited
similar brain damage.
[Jargon File]
(2002-04-09)
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