[ih] "This is the History of Ethernet."

[Dave Crocker]

On 8/21/2024 8:32 AM, Tom Lyon via Internet-history wrote:
> Good history of the*standardization*  of Ethernet, but not the history of
> deployment of DIX and how that became the de-facto standard.

Latter part of the 1970s, there was quite a bit of debate about 
token-based vs. contention-based networking. Token sounds more 
appealing, exactly because of the tidy allocation discipline.  In 
contrast Aloha and Ethernet are a randomization mess.

At one point I was shown the card for the Irving Ring token system and 
was told that about one-quarter of its real-estate was for creating the 
token, using what was actually a contention scheme.  If that much was 
needed just to get token started, I suspected the implicit simplicity of 
contention would make it the likely winner.

I'll also mention that years earlier, my brother, Steve, who lived next 
door to me, came in one day all excited about the just-published Aloha 
scheme.  He described it's complete lack of any coordination among 
participants.  After a brief pause, he said that's why it is important 
to fund widely diverse research efforts.  I queried his meaning.  He 
said that the complete lack of coordination that the system was based on 
could not have been created east of the Mississippi...

-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net
mast:@dcrocker at mastodon.social