[Coco] CoCo Ethernet Revisited?

[KnudsenMJ at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/16/03 5:38:23 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
mmarlett at isd.net writes:

> I stopped at the first page. This device provides an Ethernet interface. 
>  You would still have to have a device or the CoCo implement ALL of the 
>  protocols. A HUGE TASK! 

Ethernet protocol is probably a lot simpler than TCP/IP or SLIP or even KA9Q.
One of my last jobs at Bell Labs required learning how Ethernet works (after 
having used it in my Sun workstation for years as "black magic").  I was 
surprised at how simple it is -- but then, it's really old, almost as old as 
RS232-related protocols.

The only thing complex about it is the "collision" retry -- you have to wait 
a random amount of time (or an amount guaranteed to sometimes be different 
than any other member of the network is using) and try again, if the "line is 
busy."  And that's not really complex.  No, I'm not volunteering -- this was over 
5 years ago, and I don't have ready access to all the info that I did back at 
the Labs.  --Mike K.