dread high bit disease

1 definition found

dread high bit disease - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  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)