Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!barmar
From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Subject: Re: idea on easy wide-area networking.
Message-ID: <1991May15.055929.28344@Think.COM>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Reply-To: barmar@think.com
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
References: <ERIC.91May14091541@picard.sbi.com>
Distribution: comp
Date: Wed, 15 May 91 05:59:29 GMT

In article <ERIC.91May14091541@picard.sbi.com> eric@picard.sbi.com (Eric Ho) writes:
>Just wondering if there're ethernet/modem vendors out there that are
>planning to make boxes that would take ip packets off a regular phone line -
>e.g. it'll be nice if telebit modem have thick ethernet connectors in
>addition to RS232 connectors. This also means that the modem will need to
>handle SLIP/PPP well between what is flowing on the phone line and what is
>going on in its builtin ethernet card.

I've never seen a device with an ethernet port that doesn't also have a
serial port, so why do you need the modem to do this when the workstation
can do it by itself?

>Alternatively, a Cabletron box for instance can take RJ11's in addition
>to regular thick ethernet connectors.  This also means that the cabletron
>will have modem cards built into the box and they'll be able to handle
>SLIP/PPP.

That's asking alot of a 3x3-inch box, when a modem (e.g. my T1600) normally
takes up a 12x6-inch box.
-- 
Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com
{uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
