Ethernet names...

[Grant Taylor]

On 10/02/2018 09:20 PM, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
> I think Metcalfe was just giving credit for where he got the idea of 
> letting packets collide like alohanet was doing.  He took their idea 
> and improved with collision detection and borrowed the name of his 
> improvements and subsequent network "The Alto Aloha Network" i.e. it 
> was his improved "alto" version of the concept inspired by alohanet. 
> In May 1973 (I later found) he renamed his network system "Ethernet". 
> There were a number of other more established networks out there at the 
> time, this was just the start.
> 
> I think this whole area of research is very interesting.

According to the following link (which is purportedly an excerpt from 
page 5 of "Ethernet: The Definitive Guide"), the 3 Mbps Experimental 
Ethernet was indeed originally called Ethernet.

Link - Why is it called Ethernet?
  - http://www.ethermanage.com/why-is-it-called-ethernet/

"""
In late 1972, Metcalfe and his Xerox PARC colleagues developed the first 
experimental “Ethernet” network system to interconnect Xerox Altos to 
one another, and to servers and laser printers. The signal clock for the 
experimental interface was derived from the Alto’s system clock, 
resulting in a data transmission rate on the experimental Ethernet of 
2.94 Mb/s.

Metcalfe’s first experimental network was called the Alto Aloha Network. 
In 1973, Metcalfe changed the name to “Ethernet,” to make it clear that 
the system could support any computer‚ not just Altos‚ and to point out 
that his new network mechanisms had evolved well beyond the Aloha 
system. He chose to base the name on the word “ether” as a way of 
describing an essential feature of the system: the physical medium 
(i.e., a cable) carries bits to all stations, much the same way that the 
old “luminiferous ether” was once thought to propagate electromagnetic 
waves through space. Thus, Ethernet was born.
"""

I apparently need to pick up a copy of Ethernet: The Definitive Guide 
and do some reading.



-- 
Grant. . . .
unix || die