What's the purpose of 8b/10b encoding? I've heard reasons ranging from "to provide DC-Free data streams" to "to reduce the effective spectral content of the link". This is all fine-and-dandy, but the efficiency- hit 8b/10b (80%) has on a link is a hefty price to pay. I have a difficult time believing the benefits outweigh the cost. For links such as InfiniBand (and others), does anyone know why 8b/10b encoding was used? What are folks trying to accomplish when they add this requirement to the spec(s)? I'm sure there's something I'm missing here, and I'd appreciate it if someone could clue me in. Thanks, Pat Zabinski ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu