Super User
Super User

Questions tagged [standards]

59 questions
112
votes
4 answers

Is there a standard name for the "standard" computer screw?

I have the unfortunate task of writing a technical document, and I know the government is a stickler for unnecessary detail. Is there standard name for the standard computer screw? Also, what is the name of the standard disk drive screw?
Keltari
  • 75,447
73
votes
3 answers

What is the email address format "Name " called?

Given an email address in the format John Doe I wonder where this format is explicitly defined and what the whole thing is called. It doesn't seem to be specified in rfc5322 (at least I didn't find it). So given the address…
user52375
18
votes
1 answer

What is the purpose of allowing comments inside email addresses?

According to the standard, it's possible to insert 'comments' inside email addresses, such that john(hello @(world!) )@example.com and john@(my)example.com direct to john@example.com. The standard states (in Section 3.2.2): A comment is normally…
j_h
  • 189
16
votes
1 answer

Why are there ping replies from within 172.31.0.0/16?

Today I accidentally discovered, that I can ping addresses in the 172.31.0.0/16 subnet and get an ICMP reply. I tried a few random ones, it always got replies. After checking the routing table and a tentative traceroute,it looks like the associated…
Marcus Ilgner
  • 423
  • 1
  • 5
  • 12
11
votes
1 answer

Different Print Page Dimensions Under Same Standard (A4)?

2 different reputable sources list 2 different A4 page dimensions: 8.27 x 11.69 and 8.27 x 11.7. Furthermore, I have 2 different PDF resize programs. 1 outputs A4 files as 8.26 x 11.69, the other outputs files as 8.27 x 11.69. Thus, among 2…
abcjme
  • 459
7
votes
1 answer

Which regular expression standard is used in grep?

Is the regular expression standard used in grep POSIX + ASCII or something else is mixed in?
Denys S.
  • 490
  • 1
  • 6
  • 14
6
votes
1 answer

Why should one prefer lower case file extensions like .jpg over uppercase ones like .JPG?

Many (most?) programs note file extensions in lower case. ls command in bash even prints foo.jpg highlighted as picture by default but not *.JPG. Lower case characters are better to distinguish from each other because they make use of descenders.…
Jonas Stein
  • 1,182
4
votes
2 answers

Crimping T568A vs. T568B color scheme: Does it matter electrically?

I have bulk Cat 5e Ethernet cable with "TIA/EIA-568B.2" stamped on the jacket. I'm assuming this means I should use the T568B color scheme. If I were to crimp both ends using the T568A color scheme instead, would it affect signal quality? I…
Richard Hansen
  • 561
4
votes
1 answer

Why is ~/.local/share a two-level directory?

I've never seen anything under ~/.local other than share, and the XDG Spec doesn't mention any other directories under .local. What is the motivation for having two levels of directories here as opposed to just one (like ~/.config)?
rcorre
  • 276
  • 2
  • 6
  • 14
3
votes
1 answer

Why are USB connectors different from RJ45/Ethernet connectors?

I note that USB cable and Ethernet cable (RJ45/Cat5/...) have the same function : to transmit data as fast as possible over a wire or a port that we can connect and disconnect. In their evolution they both try to maximize throughput in bit/second…
Malkio
  • 31
3
votes
2 answers

SATA connector position on a hard disk

I have a external SATA drive enclosure that connects via USB to a PC/Mac and it accepts a bare SATA drive being slotted directly into the enclosure, much like a hot swappable disk you would find in a server. I don't have to connect a data/power sata…
user5024
3
votes
1 answer

Why is Internet Explorer not a standards-compliant browser?

Disclaimer: This is not a rant question whatsoever. I do a lot of web development and I manipulate websites on a daily basis at my work. Something I always come across when fixing things is that Internet Explorer requires several fixes to display…
nopcorn
  • 16,982
3
votes
1 answer

Associate ISO week date with a month

is there any standard way to associate a ISO week number with a specific month? Let's say we have week 35 this year (from 08/29/2011 to 09/04/2011), does this week belong to August or September? I'm looking for a standard or the most common way of…
Armen Ablak
  • 33
3
votes
2 answers

What's the maximum number of lanes possible to use in a single PCI Express link? 16 or 32?

I always thought that the maximum number of lanes for a PCI Express link was 16. The most powerful and expensive gaming GPUs never offer more lanes, and I have never seen a motherboard featuring a slot longer than 16 lanes. But is it really 32…
pipe
  • 181
2
votes
1 answer

Ubuntu package install directory standards

I've been trying to find some documentation that defines the standard which Ubuntu uses for installing applications. I'm making a web app that I want to install it in the correct places. As an example, I've noticed the following directory pattern…
Joseph
  • 2,239
1
2 3 4