Ethernet names...

[Grant Taylor]

On 10/04/2018 02:31 AM, Peter Corlett via cctalk wrote:
> It was probably just known as "Ethernet". If there's only one kind, 
> why give it a longer name to distinguish it from future variants that 
> may never come to be?  My bumph tells me it was called "Experimental 
> Ethernet", but I suspect that's a name given to it in retrospect.

I agree that the "Experimental" in "Experimental Ethernet" is in fact 
probably retroactive.

> "Ethernet I" and "Ethernet II" were 10Mb/s thicknet variants which evolved 
> into the 802.3/10Base5 standards. The exact details of the differences 
> are probably lost in time.

The contributions to this thread have satisfied my curiosity / question 
that "Ethernet (I)" was not the 3 Mbps Experimental Ethernet.

> Although thicknet is finally dead -- we had to hammer many stakes into 
> the cable to make sure, but managed it in the end --

Um … I'm somewhat reluctant to tell you that there's a Thicknet segment 
in my basement with transceivers attacked.  I've not sent traffic across 
it /yet/.  But I will.  ;-)

Admittedly, it is purely for edutainment and hobbyist retro-computing / 
retro-networking reasons.

> Ethernet II's layer 2 protocol remains in use in modern IP networks, 
> and contemporary usage of "Ethernet II" refers to just that rather than 
> the older standard.

Yep.

I need to re-read something to see if (a variant of) Ethernet II frames 
are used for IP on WiFi or if they are closer to 802.2 LLC + SNAP 
similar to what is used on other, non-Ethernet, 802 networks.



-- 
Grant. . . .
unix || die