dread high bit disease

A condition endemic to PRIME (also known as "PR1ME")

minicomputers that results in all the characters having their

high (0x80) bit ON rather than OFF. This of course makes

transporting files to other systems much more difficult, not

to mention talking to true 8-bit devices. Folklore had it

that PRIME adopted the reversed-8-bit convention in order to

save 25 cents per {serial line} per machine; PRIME old-timers,

on the other hand, claim they inherited the disease from

Honeywell via customer NASA's compatibility requirements and

struggled heroically to cure it. Whoever was responsible,

this probably qualifies as one of the most cretinous design

tradeoffs ever made. See {meta bit}. A few other machines

have exhibited similar brain damage.

[{Jargon File}]