FPEG!

The ticket machine at the station this morning had an unusual problem: On the display, all the Os were turned into Fs, and all the Ns were turned into Es. I couldn't work out how this could happen; certainly no single-bit error (a broken pin in a connector, say) could do that. Not if it's ASCII, at least.

A niggling suspicion and a quick Google gave me the answer: The machines are using EBCDIC. EBCDIC! In 2004! Anyway, this handy chart shows that an O in EBCDIC is binary 11010110, whereas an F is 11000110. So if that fourth line is broken, Os turn into Fs.

Now, the display normally alternates between OPEN and NO CONCESSIONS when it's not actually in use, so instead this morning it read FPEG and FG CGFCESSIGFS.

This brightened my day immeasurably.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:16 PM

Comments

1 The announcement system my commuter train uses seems to take whatever they type for the displays in the stations and spells it out. So, the other day they misspelled "Please" and the announcement kept saying "Attention customers pelate".

Posted by: Blogeline at June 08, 2004 11:29 PM (O27QY)

2 I still occasionally have to deal with EBCDIC and BCD.

Posted by: Ted at June 09, 2004 12:11 AM (blNMI)

3 It's the little things that keep us sane...

Posted by: Susie at June 09, 2004 01:53 AM (tEteH)

4 I'm proud to state that I understood everything before the first colon. After, nothing.

Posted by: Interested-Participant at June 10, 2004 04:03 AM (AaBEz)

5 You know, had I not read this post, I would have lived the rest of my life without once remembering the existence of EBCDIC.

Posted by: Mr. Green at June 10, 2004 12:25 PM (A054Z)






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