If you find it interesting, the military uses 12-bits for a byte.

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> From: Wim E. van Bemmel <bemspan@XS4ALL.NL>
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [0t]bit,byte,nibble
> Date: Monday, April 27, 1998 12:22 PM
>
> Right,
>
> a bit is the smallest amount of information, that contains a true/false
value,
>
> in general something that can have only 2 values, thus is binary of
nature.
> As far as I know the bit was invented by Shannon (1948: A Mathemathical
> Theory Of Communication) (the last word might as well be 'Information')
> as Shannon was the founder of wat is called Information Theory. In this
> book the BIT is introduced as the 'binary unit' of information.
>
> Blad Cap wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 2 Mar 1998 03:07:53 -0800 Andrew Warren <fastfwd@IX.NETCOM.COM>
> > writes:
> > >William Chops Westfield <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> wrote:
> > >
> > >> AFAIK, a "byte" did not have any inherent size prior to
> > >> microcomputers and microprocessors (at which point it became 8 bits,
> > >> since that was the native addressable size.)  CDC bytes were 6 bits,
> > >> IBM varied, and the DEC PDP10 had special "byte pointer" instuctions
> > >> that could handle any byte size from 1 to 36 bits within its 36-bit
> > >> words (word addressable machine.)
> > >
> > >Bill:
> > >
> > >That's true, more or less... The word "byte" was originally defined
> > >as the amount used to represent one character; when the word was
> > >first coined, a "byte" was a six-bit number.
> > >
> > >However... The 8-bit definition of "byte" predates microcomputers and
> > >microprocessors by over a decade; the IBM System/360, designed in the
> > >'50s, started to standardize a "byte" as eight bits.  Ever since
> > >then, most people have used the word "byte" specifically to mean an
> > >eight-bit quantity, and referred to the other sizes -- imprecisely --
> > >as "words".
> > >
> > >-Andy
> > >
> > >=== Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
> > >=== Fast Forward Engineering - Vista, California
> > >=== http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499
> > >
> > Andy,
> > You are right. Byte started as BYTE after IBM/360 came into life.
> >
> > I want to go back to "bit". As far as I had been learnt it comes from
> > English word bit what  means smallest piece/amount of information which
> > can not by divided or splitted any more.
> >
> > The origin of nibble is quite obscure. I think this is a pure modern
> > programmer's jargon rarely being met in literature.
> >
> > Regards
> > Blad Cap
> >
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>
>
> --
>   Regards,
>
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>   Wim E. van Bemmel
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