https://rs-485.com/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Fuzzy_bitFuzzy bit - Revision history2026-05-04T03:32:19ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.42.3https://rs-485.com/index.php?title=Fuzzy_bit&diff=2247&oldid=prevAdmin: Imported missing template from Wikipedia2026-05-03T16:49:47Z<p>Imported missing template from Wikipedia</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>A '''fuzzy [[bit]]''', also known as a ''flaky bit'' or a ''weak bit'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newyorkcto.blogspot.com/2007/05/fuzzy-bit.html|title=The fuzzy bit|last=Williams|first=Jon|date=2007-05-31|website=|publisher=New York CTO|language=|access-date=2011-01-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/projects/devglossary/_weak_bit.html|title=weak bit|last=|first=|date=2001|website=|publisher=American National Standard T1.523-2001: Telecom Glossary 2000|language=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203193346/http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/projects/devglossary/_weak_bit.html|archive-date=2008-12-03|access-date=2011-01-21}}</ref> is a bit cell on a digital storage medium that possesses no clear digital state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.softpres.org/glossary:flakey_bits|title=Flakey Bits|last=|first=|date=2006-06-14|website=|publisher=Software Preservation Society|language=|access-date=2011-01-04}}</ref> This can mean there is some expected statistical distribution for the two possible states, 0 and 1, when the bit cell is read multiple times.<br />
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== Explanation and application ==<br />
A fuzzy bit may be an unwanted side effect of a defective storage medium or reader, but can also be a deliberately generated effect. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, with [[magnetic media]] such as [[floppy disk]]s such bits were deliberately created by poor [[Disk formatting|formatting]] to serve as a [[copy protection]] mechanism. An example of this is the [[Video game|game]] ''[[Dungeon Master (video game)|Dungeon Master]]'', in which inconsistency in multiple read access to such a bit was checked when loading the software and was a prerequisite for operation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US4849836|title=Copy protection for computer discs|last=Kachikian|first=Kevin R.|date=1986-07-24|website=|publisher=Software Heaven, Inc.|language=|access-date=2011-01-04}}</ref> Since usual floppy disk drives could not produce such bits, this was an effective mechanism for preventing illegal copies and one of the only possible approaches to circumvent such protection was to disable the check routine in the software.<ref name="copyprotectionDM3">{{cite web|url=http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/210|title=Technical Documentation - Copy Protection|last=Fontanel|first=Christophe|date=2009-01-29|website=|publisher=Dungeon Master Encyclopedia|language=|accessdate=2011-01-04}}</ref><ref name="copyprotectionDM22">{{cite web|url=http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1429|title=Technical Documentation - Detailed analysis of the Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back for Atari ST Floppy Disks|last=Fontanel|first=Christophe|date=2009-01-18|website=|publisher=Dungeon Master Encyclopedia|language=|accessdate=2011-02-08}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
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[[Category:Computer storage media]]</div>Admin