On Sat, 30 Aug 2003, Kleb J.F wrote: Err... this is a mailing list, not a personal address. DECserver 100's were the first of DEC (Digital)'s line of ethernet terminal servers. These terminal servers connected to an Ethernet on one end (like the VAXen, PDP-11's et al), and on the other end connected to terminals and modems. These servers ran the LAT (Local Area Transport) protocol, which is somewhat like what TELNET does over IP/TCP these days... it connects a terminal to a login session on a host system, such as a UNIX or VMS host. The LAT protocol then takes care for efficient transport of keystrokes and screen data over the network. At the time, this was a revolutionary change from how terminals were otherwise connected; up till then, host systems spent a lot of their time (read: brain power, computing resources) on the actual servicing the serial lines to which the (sometimes hundreds!) of terminals were connected. By offloading this processing to the dedicated 'dec servers' (hence the name: DECserver), host systems could spend more time on actual work. It also allowed terminals to be further away from the hosts, since the rules for serial line lengths no longer applied, but the new rules of Ethernet cabling ruled instead. Documentation (and load software) for these devices is still available. Cheers, Fred