• Deestan@lemmy.world
    5·
    2 months ago

    Using 1,454,942 maximum size and minimum error correction QR codes in alphanumeric mode (byte mode is a lie) to store Base64-encoded binary data, you get roughly 4,687,823,124 bytes. 4.6 GB. If the cards are two-sided we get 9.2 GB.

    Minimum size of Windows 11 installer image seems to be 8 GB, so it checks out!

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.orgEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      Why Base64? QR codes can contain pure binary data, no need to use this inefficient, not-error-correcting 6-to-8 encoding.

      Oh, I forgot Microsoft does not care jack shit about saving people’s computing resources. However, Windows 9x installers on floppies used custom formatting except the first bootable one, allowing them to fit nearly 2 MB of useful data per floppy.

      • Deestan@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        They can contain binary data, but less of it. Not sure of the details, but you get 3k bytes if binary data or 4.2k alphanumeric letters. So no big difference all in all, which is a bit silly.

        Also, many QR scanners can’t handle binary data and freak out on null values or newlines.

        We must consider the practical side of installing Windows 11 from a semitrailer load of cardboard.

    • mle@feddit.org
      0·
      2 months ago

      Nice!

      Though if they were double sided, there is no way we can see all these cards in the same shot. If it starts at odd numbers (i.e. #1), #3 and #4 would share the same card front and back, if it starts even (i.e. a cover graphic and #1 on the same card), #4 and #5 should share the same card front and back.

      • Deestan@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        Card#1, Card#1 back, Card#2, Card#2 back, etc is what you need to get 9GB out of the 1,454,492 card numbers indicated. :)

  • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    KolibriOS, arguably the smallest modern GUI OS at 1.44MB, could be encoded on ~142 of them. I shouldn’t find that interesting but I do. MikeOS, which is an operating system used to teach about OS design, could fit on ~74.

    Making this a very dumb very impractical but nonetheless legitimately viable method for non-electromagnetic OS storage.

    • thepreciousboar@lemm.ee
      1·
      2 months ago

      Laminated paper qr codes for long-term storage could last centuries, possibly much more than an hard drive or a flash drive. That would probably outlive any computer it couls be used on, but it’s an interesting solution.

      • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
        1·
        2 months ago

        Lol, i use qrencode for years in a tiny little function to display URL in the image viewer.

        Btw, Unixes used lf, Mac decided on cr, and that’s why MS used cr lf, for compatibility. Did i remember that right?

  • Claudia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    2·
    2 months ago

    So you see SCOTUS, the government can’t tell me to shut down my windows 11 printing press, because I’m reporting on its color scheme and people need to have a copy to understand my journalism.

  • WHYAREWEALLCAPS@fedia.io
    1·
    2 months ago

    The only thing that would top this would be using punch cards. I think that’d be around 58 million punch cards for Win11.

  • M500@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I thought it would be cool to have qr-code stickers that when scanned would be an ebook.

    Sadly, they don’t hold enough data and I could not find any kind of compression that would help.

    I know it could be linked to a server, but then it’s reliant on an internet connection and for the server to be active.

    • LordAmplifier@pawb.socialEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      I love that idea. The first result I got on DDG says that QR codes can hold up to 3KB of data, 7,089 numeric, or 4,269 alphanumeric characters, so (very short) short stories should work!

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Or book chapters, spread out across the city or town, with clues at the end of where the next chapter is located, forcing readers to explore the town, as they look for the next chapters in the epic they’re reading, all while living their very own epic in the process.

        Now that’s a run-on sentence.