Early networking (was Re: Subject: Re: 8-bitters and multi-whatever) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

16 Sep 2007

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Subject: Early networking (was Re: Subject: Re: 8-bitters and multi-whatever)
   From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
   Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:34:47 -0400
     To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>

On 9/16/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
  On 16 Sep 2007 at 13:10, ajones wrote:

  Then let's go a step further. When/where did
the first internetworking
 gear come onto the market? Not multi-protocol routing, just routing in
 general: segmented networks with nodes that moved traffic towards remote
 nodes on the behalf of local ones. 
 Does Usenet UUCP-type networking count? 
The routing in classic UUCP was manually done, but I would say it
counts, but then I used UUCP on a nearly daily basis from about 1985 -
1996, so I could be biased. 
I was a digit from '83 to 93 and was used to DECnet PhaseIV which had 
adaptive routing. Phase III did not. So going from a phase III node 
(usually PDP-11) generally required specifying the path to the first 
routing node.

IP networking was later in my expereicnce and had it's own flavor.

To answer the question, Networking gear was already around by 1980
and likely well before that.

Allison