Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
From: jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: "baud" == "bits"/"second"
Summary: sometimes, not always
Message-ID: <305@tardis.Tymnet.COM>
Date: 6 Jul 89 21:24:36 GMT
References: <42300@bbn.COM>
Reply-To: jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith)
Organization: McDonnell Douglas Field Service Co, San Jose CA
Lines: 22

In article <42300@bbn.COM> denbeste@BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) writes:
>The term "baud" DOES mean "bits per second", not "characters per second".
>The person who reported that "baud" means "characters per second" is simply
>wrong.

True, "baud" does not mean "characters per second".  But if you transmit more
than one bit at a time, then "baud" does not mean "bits per second" either.

One baud is one change of signal per second.

A touchtone phone sends 4 bits in parallel when you press one of the 12 keys.
If you dial 2 digits per second, then you are running at 2 baud but are
transmitting 8 bits per second.

A 300 bits per second modem runs at 300 baud, but a 1200 bits per second modem
runs at 600 baud at the telephone end because it encodes 2 consecutive digital
bits into a single analog signal change.
-- 
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@tymix.tymnet.com
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