3 ms·
Someone recently did a YouTube demonstration of an Ethernet bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvqv9QcTcfA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvqv9QcTcfA (ski
by immibis 1y ago
Someone recently did a YouTube demonstration of an Ethernet bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvqv9QcTcfA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvqv9QcTcfA (skip to 15:22). It's a large, $8000 (in 1986), 10kg device with a 68000 processor that connects to exactly two ethernet busses via AUI ports. It even speaks an earlier variant of STP. It remembers a certain number of MAC addresses on each bus, and when it sees a packet on one bus addressed to a device on the other bus, or a broadcast, it stores it and sends it when the other bus is free.
The idea of a two-port switch sounds silly until you realize there can be 30 devices on each port.
- Animats 1y agoOh, that thing. The next step up was the DEC DELNI, the same thing but with about 8 ports. Had one of those sitting under a raised floor. The main purpose of bridges like that was to overcome the electrical limitations of coax Ethernet. Cable losses, transceiver losses, and length limitations meant that beyond some length, you needed a power booster.