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dread high-bit disease

   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.