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Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

amturing.acm.org

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Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#11

Post by robin_reala »

jacquesm wrote: post #4

Well deserved. I remember dealing with a whole raft of other networking technologies and Ethernet stood head-and-shoulders above anything else available at the time. One thing that is not well appreciated today is how power efficient Ethernet was, even on launch in the coax era. Other network technologies (Token Ring as embodied by IBMs network cards, for instance) consumed power like there was no tomorrow. Leading t…

I had no idea that Token Ring was inefficient with power, but it certainly had a bunch of other problems. Biggest (at least on PCs) was its inability to recover from a cable being unplugged without resetting a bunch of the system, and the type-1 token ring cables win the award for being the most needlessly bulky,[1] even if the connectors had a plug-into-each-other party trick.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_of_connectors_and_faste...

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#13

Post by jacquesm »

hoseja wrote: post #7

What's the killer feature that differentiates Ethernet from other phy protocols?

The fact that it allowed for all kinds of topologies, and that it served as a bus (shared medium, hence the name 'Ether') rather than a point-to-point link is what I think made the biggest difference.

Of course now that we all use switched links they are point-to-point again but an ethernet 'hub' gave you the same effect as a bus with all devices seeing all of the traffic. This made efficient broadcast protocols possible and also allowed for a historical - but interesting - trick: the screw-on taps that you could place on a single coaxial cable running down a department giving instant access without pulling another cable. Zero network configuration required, just get the tap in place and assign a new address. DHCP later took care of that need as well.

This was fraught with problems, for instance a single transceiver going haywire could make a whole segment unusable and good luck finding the culprit. But compared to the competition it absolutely rocked.

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#14

Post by OJFord »

tobylane wrote: post #8
theharrychen wrote: post #2

How did he not get this earlier?

There’s a lot of inventions to award people for. Some of the other recipients look overdue by the time it came to them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award

It coming to Metcalfe for Ethernet 7 years after to Berners-Lee for the WWW is amusing though.

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#15

Post by jacquesm »

OJFord wrote: post #14
tobylane wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a lot of inventions to award people for. Some of the other recipients look overdue by the time it came to them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award

It coming to Metcalfe for Ethernet 7 years after to Berners-Lee for the WWW is amusing though.

Indeed, the one would not have existed without the other.

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#16

Post by lunfard000 »

jacquesm wrote: post #4

Well deserved. I remember dealing with a whole raft of other networking technologies and Ethernet stood head-and-shoulders above anything else available at the time. One thing that is not well appreciated today is how power efficient Ethernet was, even on launch in the coax era. Other network technologies (Token Ring as embodied by IBMs network cards, for instance) consumed power like there was no tomorrow. Leading t…

Sure, years ago. But today Ethernet is just as scammy as everyone else, we've been stuck at 1 Gbps on consumer grade hardware for more than 15 years. There are claims (unverified ofc) about their executives boasting about their stupid margins. 1 Gb switch is like 10-20 euros meanwhile 2.5 Gbps is like over 100...

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#18

Post by jacquesm »

lunfard000 wrote: post #16
jacquesm wrote: post #4

Well deserved. I remember dealing with a whole raft of other networking technologies and Ethernet stood head-and-shoulders above anything else available at the time. One thing that is not well appreciated today is how power efficient Ethernet was, even on launch in the coax era. Other network technologies (Token Ring as embodied by IBMs network cards, for instance) consumed power like there was no tomorrow. Leading t…

Sure, years ago. But today Ethernet is just as scammy as everyone else, we've been stuck at 1 Gbps on consumer grade hardware for more than 15 years. There are claims (unverified ofc) about their executives boasting about their stupid margins. 1 Gb switch is like 10-20 euros meanwhile 2.5 Gbps is like over 100...

I can't make heads or tails of your comment. What is scammy about Ethernet and what 'stupid margins' does Ethernet have? It's a networking standard, not a company.

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#19

Post by eointierney »

jacquesm wrote: post #4

Well deserved. I remember dealing with a whole raft of other networking technologies and Ethernet stood head-and-shoulders above anything else available at the time. One thing that is not well appreciated today is how power efficient Ethernet was, even on launch in the coax era. Other network technologies (Token Ring as embodied by IBMs network cards, for instance) consumed power like there was no tomorrow. Leading t…

Never met Don Becker but as it was the Beowulf project that got me interested in GNU/Linux he is synonymous with ethernet drivers

Re: Bob Metcalfe wins Turing Award

#20

Post by themoonisachees »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
lunfard000 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, years ago. But today Ethernet is just as scammy as everyone else, we've been stuck at 1 Gbps on consumer grade hardware for more than 15 years. There are claims (unverified ofc) about their executives boasting about their stupid margins. 1 Gb switch is like 10-20 euros meanwhile 2.5 Gbps is like over 100...

I can't make heads or tails of your comment. What is scammy about Ethernet and what 'stupid margins' does Ethernet have? It's a networking standard, not a company.

2.5G or even 10G is not that much more expensive and companies making consumer electronics sell it as a considerable premium for what is essentially the same cost difference as making a 8gb vs 16 gb flash drive. Of course, regular internet users don't need more than 2.5G (and couldn't use it in most of the world due to ISP monopolies) so anything faster than gigabit is a target for segmentation.
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