Ethernet is 50 years old this year.

[Gromett]

Speed matters: How Ethernet went from 3Mbps to 100Gbps… and beyond

One of the biggest computing inventions of all time, courtesy of Xerox PARC.

arstechnica.com

 

[Lenny HB]

That was a brain taxing read.

 

[monzer]

Happy birthday ethernet What ever you are.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Didn't xerox engineers invent windows operating system? I'm sure I read a digital book on it

 

[Insider]

Didn't xerox engineers invent windows operating system? I'm sure I read a digital book on it

If memory is right Xerox developed the PDF but didn't commercialise it as they didn't want to lose out on consumable sales. A few of their engineers left, bought the technology from them and set up Adobe. Adobe is now worth many many multiples of Xerox.

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[St3v3]

Very late 90's I think I remember specifying a machine that needed the new fangled ethernet connection, but the coax was still a possibility...

Please correct my timeline if I'm out

 

[kevenh]

Didn't xerox engineers invent windows operating system? I'm sure I read a digital book on it

Xerox had a GUI first (Graphical User Inferface)
Windows is Microsoft yy
Edit: they (Xerox) got up to a few things: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARC_(company)#Accomplishments

 

[kevenh]

Xerox had a GUI first (Graphical User Inferface)

Correction, SketchPad was 1st

Graphical user interface - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[meanders]

Very late 90's I think I remember specifying a machine that needed the new fangled ethernet connection, but the coax was still a possibility...

Please correct my timeline if I'm out

Ethernet is a network protocol that will run over many types of cable ( and indeed wireless) provide it is either coaxial or twisted pairs. The type of physical connector is a function of the cable type used. The RJ45 is the de facto standard for Cat5, Cat6 etc cabling, but others are used in specific fields.

In earlier days there were othe contenders, not least Token Ring, but the industry almost completely standardised around Ethernet. The same Betamax Vs VHS discussion still takes place between ethernet and token ring in some corners.

Happy birthday Ethernet.

 

[kevenh]

Very late 90's I think I remember specifying a machine that needed the new fangled ethernet connection, but the coax was still a possibility...

Please correct my timeline if I'm out

That’ll likely be the 10BASE2 network that the availability of over lapped with the RJ45 Ethernet connections.
10BASE2 used coaxial cable with BNC for the interconnection.

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[Coolcats]

Speed matters: How Ethernet went from 3Mbps to 100Gbps… and beyond

One of the biggest computing inventions of all time, courtesy of Xerox PARC.

arstechnica.com

The 'truth' regarding the internet goes much deeper thanks to the great minds Paul Barron (US) and Donald Davies (UK) and the Rand Corporation.

Both Paul and Donald were working on similar projects and came up with similar ideas it was Donald who put the term Packet to linguists along with other names and Packet was the name chosen.

A quite readable book is called 'Where Wizards stay up late' the origins of the internet is a great read and downloadable from here

So giving Xerox the acclaim for the beginnings is not quite true.

 

[bungy]

CSMA-CD....them were the days

 

[Gromett]

Didn't xerox engineers invent windows operating system? I'm sure I read a digital book on it

Xerox invented the WIMP interface (windows, Icons, Mice and Pointer).
Apple nicked it from them,
Microsoft copied it from Apple.

That is my memory.

 

[GJH]

Back in the 1960s/70s people were working on similar projects in different organisations at the same time. Some ideas rolled out generally and some stayed within the organisations where they were developed.
Just as much of what Xerox developed enabled the likes of Apple and Microsoft not to start from scratch, within UK local government in the early 70s a fair amount of progress was made because different authorities swapped software developed for different applications.
IT was being used in areas which it hadn't been used in previously because the tools had only just become available. As people moved on to different employers they took with them the knowledge that they had developed or learned.

 

[kevenh]

Xerox invented the WIMP interface (windows, Icons, Mice and Pointer).
Apple nicked it from them,
Microsoft copied it from Apple.

That is my memory.

Info in post #8’s link ses you’ve the basic order right

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[meanders]

It's interesting how the history has changed over many years. I am not convinced by that Wiki article which glossed over the earlier Windows GUI. I think the reality as mentioned by GJH is that various teams worked on similar things and ideas moved from one camp to another. It's the old arguments about who did the first television, who invented radar, who invested the jet engine, who invented nuclear fission? With all of these developments, even if one person did get there first, many others were hot on their heels.

We claim Whittle developed the first jet engine. If so, how did Germany get the Komet and ME262 into production so quickly when we were at war with them? Not decrying Frank Whittles work at all, but others were working on very similar projects at the same time.

 

[kevenh]

WIMP interface (windows, Icons, Mice and Pointer).

Just noticed in the posted links, you’ve the wrong M
It’s M for Menu

Edit: oh the mistake is allowed:

Other expansions are sometimes used, such as substituting "mouse" and "mice" for menus, or "pull-down menu" and "pointing" for pointer

 

[Gromett]

Just noticed in the posted links, you’ve the wrong M
It’s M for Menu

You are of course correct.

 

[Rapides]

Ethernet is a network protocol that will run over many types of cable ( and indeed wireless) provide it is either coaxial or twisted pairs. The type of physical connector is a function of the cable type used. The RJ45 is the de facto standard for Cat5, Cat6 etc cabling, but others are used in specific fields.

In earlier days there were othe contenders, not least Token Ring, but the industry almost completely standardised around Ethernet. The same Betamax Vs VHS discussion still takes place between ethernet and token ring in some corners.

Happy birthday Ethernet.

I spent years supporting Token Ring attachments to IBM mainframe Front-End Processors, then years taking them out. Kept me in work, anyway.

 

[Gromett]

I spent years supporting Token Ring attachments to IBM mainframe Front-End Processors, then years taking them out. Kept me in work, anyway.

I also spent quite a few years doing that in offices around North Nottinghamshire and west Lincs. Also dealing with Novell Netware. I don't miss Netware, Token Ring or Netbios.

I also don't miss crawling under desks and tracking down faulty terminators.

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[GJH]

It's interesting how the history has changed over many years. I am not convinced by that Wiki article which glossed over the earlier Windows GUI. I think the reality as mentioned by GJH is that various teams worked on similar things and ideas moved from one camp to another. It's the old arguments about who did the first television, who invented radar, who invested the jet engine, who invented nuclear fission? With all of these developments, even if one person did get there first, many others were hot on their heels.

We claim Whittle developed the first jet engine. If so, how did Germany get the Komet and ME262 into production so quickly when we were at war with them? Not decrying Frank Whittles work at all, but others were working on very similar projects at the same time.

I think that, to an extent, we didn't realise how inovative things were from day to day.
OK, we knew it was the first time for X but not how significant until looking back - even if it did upset IBM when mere customers came up with similar techniques to their "latest big thing"