What is mdmlog2?

[ferrysj]

I have a file "mdmlog2" that resides in the main memory. The filesize is 54B and the date stays current to the day. Is this a necessary file?

Also, why does a 512 CF only have 487 available with no visible files?

New to PPC and Axim. Thanks.

[Roosterman]

From what I can find from a google search, mdmlog is a modemlog.

[Steven Cedrone]

Also, why does a 512 CF only have 487 available with no visible files?

This is a good explanation: http://www.pcguide.com/intro/fun/bindec-c.html

Binary vs. Decimal Measurements

One of the most confusing problems regarding PC statistics and measurements is the fact that the computing world has two different definitions for most of its measurement terms. :^) Capacity measurements are usually expressed in kilobytes (thousands of bytes), in megabytes (millions of bytes), or gigabytes (billions of bytes). Due to a mathematical coincidence, however, there are two different meanings for each of these measures.

Computers are digital and store data using binary numbers, or powers of two, while humans normally use decimal numbers, expressed as powers of ten. As it turns out, two to the tenth power, 2^10, is 1,024, which is very close in value to 1,000 (10^3). Similarly, 2^20 is 1,048,576, which is approximately 1,000,000 (10^6), and 2^30 is 1,073,741,824, close to 1,000,000,000 (10^9). When computers and binary numbers first began to be used regularly, computer scientists noticed this similarity, and for convenience, "hijacked" the abbreviations normally used for decimal numbers and began applying them to binary numbers. Thus, 2^10 was given the prefix "kilo", 2^20 was called "mega", and 2^30 "giga".

This shorthand worked fairly well when used only by technicians who worked regularly with computers; they knew what they were talking about, and nobody else really cared. Over the years however, computers have become mainstream, and the dual notation has led to quite a bit of confusion and inconsistency. In many areas of the PC, only binary measures are used. For example, "64 MB of system RAM" always means 64 times 1,048,576 bytes of RAM, never 64,000,000. In other areas, only decimal measures are found--a "28.8K modem" works at a maximum speed of 28,800 bits per second, not 29,491.

Storage devices however are where the real confusion comes in. Some companies and software packages use binary megabytes and gigabytes, and some use decimal megabytes and gigabytes. What's worse is that the percentage discrepancy between the decimal and binary measures increases as the numbers get larger: there is only a 2.4% difference between a decimal and a binary kilobyte, which isn't that big of a deal. However, this increases to around a 5% difference for megabytes, and around 7.5% for gigabytes, which is actually fairly significant. This is why with today's larger hard disks, more people are starting to notice the difference between the two measures. Hard disk capacities are always stated in decimal gigabytes, while most software uses binary. So, someone will buy a "30 GB hard disk", partition and format it, and then be told by Windows that the disk is "27.94 gigabytes" and wonder "where the other 2 gigabytes went". Well, the disk is 27.94 gigabytes--27.94 binary gigabytes. The 2 gigabytes didn't go anywhere.

Another thing to be careful of is converting between binary gigabytes and binary megabytes. Decimal gigabytes and megabytes differ by a factor of 1,000 but of course the binary measures differ by 1,024. So this same 30 GB hard disk is 30,000 MB in decimal terms. But its 27.94 binary gigabytes are equal to 28,610 binary megabytes (27.94 times 1,024).



Steve

[Sslixtis]

Ahh, you have found the secret of proper marketing ploys... 1Mb has traditionally been 1024Kb, 1 Kb has been 1024B etc... Well recently there has been a trend by memory manufacturers to call 1000Kb - 1Mb, this way they can sell you 487Mb of memory and still claim it as 512Mb! Sandisk was one of the first to pioneer this bold new concept.
:evil:

LOL, Let me add yeah what Steve said :wink: Got there quicker thatn I did!

[Larry L]

"Also, why does a 512 CF only have 487 available with no visible files?"

I believe the explanition for that is.

A storage card is an ATA device, just like a hard drive. That is why it must be formatted.

Mine is formatted with FAT32.

If you had a 512MB Hard drive and formatted it the same way, it would have 487MB also.