Question 1

How to install bcal on Ubuntu?

Accepted Answer

You can install bcal from the official repositories using 'sudo apt install bcal', or if the version is outdated, clone the repository and build from source with 'sudo make strip install'. The README provides detailed steps, including handling dependencies like readline.

Question 2

What's the difference between bcal and bc calculator?

Accepted Answer

bcal is specialized for storage calculations with units like GiB and MiB, LBA/CHS conversions, and binary prefixes, while bc is a general-purpose arbitrary precision calculator. bcal is better for system engineering tasks involving storage and memory, whereas bc handles broader arithmetic.

Question 3

How to use bcal for bitwise operations?

Accepted Answer

Use the '-b' option to enter general-purpose mode, then input expressions with bitwise operators like &, |, ^, <<, >>. For example, 'bcal -b "0xFF & 0x0F"' evaluates bitwise AND. In REPL mode, toggle with the 'b' key as per the prompt keys section.

Question 4

Does bcal support floating point calculations?

Accepted Answer

Yes, bcal uses long double for floating point operations in general-purpose mode, as mentioned in the operational notes. However, in storage expressions, it avoids fractional bytes and shows floor values, limiting precision for non-integer storage calculations.

Question 5

How to set a custom sector size in bcal?

Accepted Answer

Use the '-s' option followed by the sector size in bytes. For example, 'bcal -s 4096 0xaabbcc kb' sets the sector size to 4096 for LBA calculations. The default is 512 bytes, and this can be customized for disk geometry computations.

Question 6

What is LBA/CHS conversion and how does bcal handle it?

Accepted Answer

LBA (Logical Block Addressing) and CHS (Cylinder-Head-Sector) are disk addressing methods. bcal converts between them using the '-f' option with specific syntax, like 'bcal -f l500' for LBA to CHS, detailed in the operational notes with examples of hyphen-separated values.

Question 7

bcal vs Python for storage calculations – which is better?

Accepted Answer

bcal is a dedicated CLI tool with built-in storage unit handling and minimal overhead, ideal for quick, repetitive calculations. Python offers more flexibility and libraries but requires scripting. For focused storage tasks, bcal is more efficient and straightforward.

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