Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site fortune.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!vaxine!wjh12!genrad!decvax!decwrl!amd70!fortune!rpw3 From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP Newsgroups: net.lan Subject: Re: cheapernet? - (nf) Message-ID: <3635@fortune.UUCP> Date: Tue, 19-Jun-84 23:03:51 EDT Article-I.D.: fortune.3635 Posted: Tue Jun 19 23:03:51 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 21-Jun-84 01:35:53 EDT Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA Lines: 36 #R:amd70:-472500:fortune:5900025:000:1650 fortune!rpw3 Jun 19 19:47:00 1984 1. 3Com's RG-58/U version is called "Thin Ethernet", not "cheapernet". 2. Someone will surely attempt to trademark "cheapernet", but they will won't succeed. The generic term "cheapernet" has been used in public by me and by others around me for at least five (5) years to mean any form of Ethernet repeater-compatible network that was "cheaper" (that is, the packet format and the bit rate were the same, but the logic levels, encoding, and collision-detection method could differ). 3. We have also used the term "cheapo net" to mean a cheapernet that used inexpensive plastic fiber optics (such as the H-P "Snap-In" link or the Molex stuff) from the station to a repeater/multiplexer. (get it? cheap-o-net! *gag* ;-} ) (By comparison, Codenol's Ethernet-compatible fibernet is "expensiv-o-net"?) 4. Some people (AMD? Intel?) have also been using cheapernet to mean a slower bit rate, such as 1Mb/s, but I don't buy that usage. There are many variations on cheapernets, from (nearly) full electrical compatibility and interoperability (such as 3Com Thin Ethernet), to transceiver-cable multiplexers (DEC's DELNI or TCL's MultiStation), to other schemes (such as TTL "Ethernet down the backplane"). If we want to widen the term "cheapernet" to exclude Ethernet repeater compatibility, then maybe we should reserve "cheaprenet" (with the British/Continental "-re-") to continue to mean the 10Mb/s repeaterable version. (Maybe CheaprEnet??) Rob Warnock UUCP: {ihnp4,ucbvax!amd70,hpda,harpo,sri-unix,allegra}!fortune!rpw3 DDD: (415)595-8444 USPS: Fortune Systems Corp, 101 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065