You've got to be pulling my chain... (Ethernet)

From: Jack Peacock <peacock_at_simconv.com>
Date: Fri Apr 10 13:44:01 1998

> I seem to remember early Ethernet interface VAX quad cards
> being around 1.5Mbps... not sure if it was think ether, vampire
> tap stuff... This would have been before ethernet was turned
> into a 'standard.' One guy I know has one of these hanging

That is a DMC-11. It was an early networking card before Ethernet. It
was point to point, 4 wire coax, synchronous serial at something around
1.5Mbps. The DMC-11 had an onboard bit slice processor (might have been
a Signetics 8X305, not sure) to handle the packet assembly/disassembly.
BTW the KMC-11 was a generic DMC-11 that was user programmable, if you
wanted to roll your own protocols. I used a pair of DMC-11s in 1977 to
network two PDP-11/34s with an early version of DECnet. I don't recall
that DEC had any multi-drop type network interface at that time, except
maybe for X.25 PADs.
Received on Fri Apr 10 1998 - 13:44:01 BST