• Deestan@lemmy.world
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    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.org
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      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
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        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
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      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.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      What are these two sided QR code cards from the future? Did you ever play Monkey Island without a hard drive in 1989?