[W/K] :: Ethernet

  ethernet
       n : a type of networking technology for local area networks;
           coaxial cable carries radio frequency signals between
           computers at a rate of 10 megabits per second

  Ethernet
       
           A local area network first described by
          Metcalfe & Boggs of Xerox PARC in 1976.  Specified by DEC,
          Intel and XEROX (DIX) as IEEE 802.3 and now recognised
          as the industry standard.
       
          Data is broken into packets and each one is transmitted
          using the CSMA/CD algorithm until it arrives at the
          destination without colliding with any other packet.  The
          first contention slot after a transmission is reserved for
          an acknowledge packet.  A node is either transmitting or
          receiving at any instant.  The bandwidth is about 10 Mbit/s.
          Disk-Ethernet-Disk transfer rate with TCP/IP is typically 30
          kilobyte per second.
       
          Version 2 specifies that collision detect of the transceiver
          must be activated during the inter-packet gap and that when
          transmission finishes, the differential transmit lines are
          driven to 0V (half step).  It also specifies some network
          management functions such as reporting collisions, retries
          and deferrals.
       
          Ethernet cables are classified as "XbaseY", e.g. 10base5,
          where X is the data rate in Mbps, "base" means "{baseband"
          (as opposed to radio frequency) and Y is the category of
          cabling.  The original cable was 10base5 ("full spec"),
          others are 10base2 ("thinnet") and 10baseT ("twisted
          pair") which is now (1998) very common.  100baseT ("{Fast
          Ethernet") is also increasingly common.
       
          Usenet newsgroup: news:comp.dcom.lans.ethernet.
       
          http://wwwhost.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/ethernet-home.html).html">(http://wwwhost.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/ethernet-home.html).
       
          (1997-04-16)