Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!uh2
From: UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: "baud" == "bits"/"second"
Message-ID: <89188.084652UH2@PSUVM>
Date: 7 Jul 89 12:46:52 GMT
References: <42300@bbn.COM>
Organization: Penn State University - Center for Academic Computing
Lines: 28

In article <42300@bbn.COM>, denbeste@bbn.com (Steven Den Beste) says:
>
>The term "baud" DOES mean "bits per second", not "characters per second".

Sorry guy.  You are wrong.         The guy said "symbols per second",
not characters (as in ascii).  He was refering to the number of
detectable signal levels used to encode characters.  In the old days,
just two signal levels (two symbols) were used, and therefore baud == bps.
In many modern modems, different combinations of signal level and signal
changes (different sysmbols) can be used to transmit more than 1 bit,
and therefore baud < bps.
>We use it just like we use "herz" as a synonym for "cycles per second".
>
>The person who reported that "baud" means "characters per second" is simply
>wrong.
>
>As a laboratory demonstration, I have a 2400 baud modem, and I run DNET.
>(Great stuff, Matt!) For those of you who do not know, DNET uses the line fully
>during downloads - no pauses waiting for acknowledgements. WHen downloading I
>get about 10K per minute transfer rate. (And, as the old joke goes, I'm
>THANKFUL for it. Just wait'll I have kids and they complain about how slow
>their T1 line is.)
>
>10240 bytes per 60 seconds = 171 bytes per second
>                           = 1710 bits per second
>
>The rest is DNET's blocking and protocol and escaping. I'm not getting anything
>like 2400 BYTES per second.