While the LispMs designers might have originally intended a network-based file system over Chaosnet and a network-based shared terminal configuration, in the en

While the LispMs designers might have originally intended a network-based file system over Chaosnet and a network-based shared terminal configuration, in the end the LispMs each had sufficient local storage for standalone operation, and dedicated displays. (Though using long cables so that the machines could be in a machine room.) Moon wrote that the Chaosnet routing scheme “is predicated on the assumption that the network geometry is simple, there are few multiple paths, and the length of any path is quite short. This makes more sophisticated schemes unnecessary.” In the end, the whole network at MIT was effectively a single physical run (I managed the EECS portion) of the old-style thick coax. What a nightmare to manage and debug across a whole campus! (Memories of crawling in ceiling cavities with a TDR...)