OT:why a group of signals is called a bus?

Think about the bus as an abstract/system concept rather than the physical/wire.

The tricky part to keep in mind is that there are *two*, at least somewhat different kinds of things that people call a "bus" in electronics and computing hardware:

Coincidentally, address/data busses were, at least in their classic versions, a bus in both senses of this term, i.e. the address bus would run all along the mother board, and all major parts of a computer would connect to it.

It's a synchronous bus, according to the schedule. However, there are occasional clock synchronization questions.

Yes. It's an unusual double-buffer scheme. I have seen as many as twelve DATA items waiting to get on the bus. Then once on the bus, items are buffered until delivery to their destinations. Interestingly each DATA item carries its own routing and destination information, making it a relatively sophisticated network, which happens to employ buses.

Average latency at any given point during weekdays is probably around thirty minutes, but maximum latency is around 13 hours. Ah, but think of the bandwidth! As the old joke goes, "don't underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of 9-track tapes." Which is particularly funny now, because both station wagons and 9-track tapes are long obsolete...

That's a good definition, and "relatively short distances" is a good descriptive detail. Just to be clear, I think when you say "in more than one direction" you mean that, for example, the information can go from a device to multiple other devices, and not that it necessarily has to be bidirection (i.e. both input and output). An address bus is a typical example of this.

Ed

It's not just any set of wires. Anything can get on, anything can get off. Many things can be on at once.

do we black people have to sit in the back? ;-)

I beg to differ regarding station wagons. They are just as popular in Europe as ever, and they seem to be undergoing a resurgence in popularity in the US (several new models introduced in the past year). Apparently, some people with SUVs that guzzle gas and handle like pigs-on-skates have finally figured out that they never really needed to drive off-road after all. ;)

No, but on sum busses (e.g. CAN) the 1's do get priority over the 0's. (Or vice versa). :)

-- Grant Edwards grante Yow! The Osmonds! You are at all Osmonds!! Throwing up visi.com on a freeway at dawn!!!

I guess we could update it.

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of an SUV full of DVDs."

I wonder how long that will last...

Regards,

-=Dave

Talking of which, an anagram of Martin Luther King is "lurking in the tram".

Paul Burke

"Meindert Sprang" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Ahh, I did not know that. Thanks for the clarification.

What would be the purpose of a piece of wire that fails to meet this lowly standard?

- FChE

snipped-for-privacy@redhat.com (Frank Ch. Eigler) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@toenail.toronto.redhat.com:

To hold up a hanging plant?

More on topic: to provide power *from* one device *to* another (note no "back and forth"). To provide a power refernce to a device. To provide a signal of some sort in a single direction. To act as an antenna (OK, that's really just a special case of the previous example). To provide the means of measuring a force (tension) using a transducer of some sort.

Grant Edwards wrote in news:4166a4e3$0$409$a1866201 @newsreader.visi.com:

So should it now be a Mini-Cooper filled with DVDs?

What do you mean a resurgance? My wife's Suburban is really nothing but a tall station wagon. Well, a tall station wagon, with an extra back seat, mounted on a truck chassis: but that's beside the point. :-)

Not in the electrical power world. A single wire carrying power is a branch circuit or a conductor.

Um, where do you think the term came from? The power line, was often referred to as a "bus" (derived from the term bus-bar).

Power distribution _was_ the original "bus".

Generally, with proper termination, a bus can be used to transport DATA in multiple directions from the point of origin.

Ever seen a pig on skates? LOL Hilarious picture in my mind. But you've got to hand it to 'em that you can see 'em fly once they get the hang of it.... Short sturdy legs. And at that, four of those. A low center of gravity... Rocksteady... There's a catch, though... Can you guess what?

Waldemar

P.S. My 12 year old Peugeot 205 Automatic does better than 40 miles to the gallon, and with the present gas prizes I still call that guzzling... How about yours?

"Meindert Sprang" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

because

Wrong, all wrong!!! USN stands for United States Navy... If I'm informed correctly. Otherwise I'll happily stand corrected...

Waldemar (having a great time reading this lovely OT thread...)

Me too :) I never expect this little question caused such big debate ;-)

At the end, my friend accepted that the word "bus" was used becuase it carry multiple bits of information at the same time. Not quite correct for USB, but at least it is true for PCI bus and SCSI bus.

Joe