From: daniel47@eternal-september.org   
      
   bcornellison@gmail.com wrote on 21/03/2020 11:41 PM:   
   > Trying to explain a QUAD is actually relatively simple.   
   >   
   > We already know the prefixes - a kiloquad would be a thousand quads, a   
   megaquad would be a million quads, a gigaquad would be a billion quads, and a   
   teraquad would be a trillion quads.   
   >   
   > But what, exactly, is a QUAD?  Of course, it's a made-up description of a   
   quantity of data based on the Star Trek Universe, but we have to assume their   
   computers are much more advanced than what we have now.  We have BINARY   
   computers, which have two    
   combinations - 0, and 1.  Quite simply, a QUAD computer would have four   
   combinations - say 0, 1, 2, and 3.   
   >   
   > So instead of a typical "byte" of data holding 256 combinations, a QUAD of   
   data could hold 21846 combinations.  Let's break it down:   
   >   
   > Computers today use a BINARY system, as we all know.  Those have only two   
   states of existence - 0 or 1.  If you put 8 of those binary digits together,   
   you get 256 total combinations, or as we know it, one BYTE of information.    
   One character, or one    
   digit.  This assumes, as previously stated, only two states of existence - 0   
   or 1.   
   >   
   > If we assume QUAD means that there are FOUR states of existence, the power   
   of modern computers goes way up, exponentially.  So, for example:   
   >   
   > BINARY   
   > 1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128 - each number doubles, and when added up, comes out to   
   255 (256 if you include everything being Zeroes)   
   >   
   > QUAD   
   > 1-4-16-64-256-1024-4096-16384 - each number QUADRUPLES, and when added up,   
   comes out to 21,845 (21846 if you include everything being Zeroes).   
   >   
   > So to summarize:   
   >   
   > BINARY - 8 bits of binary digits gives us 256 combinations.   
   > QUAD - 8 bits of QUAD digits gives us 21846 combinations.   
   >   
   > So in theory, if the Star Trek Universe now uses QUAD based computers rather   
   than binary-based computers, whatever amounts to a physical hard-drive or SSD   
   or M2 drive or whatever storage medium you want to equate it to, using the   
   SAME relative amount    
   of PHYSICAL storage means that your actual DATA capacity storage would be   
   roughly 85 times greater than our current computers as we know them today.   
   >   
   > I have a terabyte M2 hard-drive in my PC.  If that M2 drive were to be QUAD   
   based rather than binary, the same little chip on my board would be able to   
   hold 85.336 Terabytes of information, rather than only 1 Terabyte of   
   information.   
   >   
   > A QUAD is simply 85.336 BYTES.   
   >   
   Ah!! O.K., I can almost accept your explanation, if ....   
      
   In today's Binary, we, basically, have 0V (Zero's) and 5V (Ones)   
   (Last I read, back in the nineties, a 'Zero' was anything under about   
   One Volt, a 'One' was anything above about Four Volts, and between One   
   and Four Volts was an "Indeterminent state")   
      
   You could be suggesting four possibly states, something like 0V, 1.8V,   
   3.5V and 5V.   
      
   That might work!   
      
   I had been thinking along the lines of .... currently we only use One   
   dimension of an Integrated Chip, its two sides, but, maybe, if you went   
   3D, with more connections on either end and the top and bottom of the   
   chips!!   
      
   Buggered if I'd want to design the Circuit board for that, but with   
   AutoCad .....!   
      
   --   
   Daniel   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)