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Slow Code

" wrote in
ps.com:

From: Chuck Harris on Sat, Oct 7 2006 12:40 pm

Thank you for the explanation. As a user on a corporate system
(RCA Corporation, EASD, Van Nuys, CA) '73 to '75, and with a
Tym-Share account (the time-sharing computer company), I concur.

Slow Code wrote:
On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 10:28:10 -0400, Chuck Harris wrote:

Actually top posting is a sign of *experience*. Us guys that were on
the internet back when it was run by darpa always top posted. That
was because we were running very slow lines, typically 110 to 300
baud, and it was desirable
not to have to wait through the down load of a dozen copies of the
same quoted

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

My bull**** detector just went off real loud. Here is an
authoritative statement about ARPANET from one of Comer's books:

[Blowcode's ears must be ringing all the time from his
"bull**** detector" going off on his own postings... :-) ]

"Initially, most of the leased data circuits in the ARPANET operated
at 56 Kbps, a speed considered extremely fast in 1968 but slow by
current standards." -- Douglas E. Comer, Internetworking with TCP/IP,
Volume One, 3rd Edition, Prentice-Hall (1995), page 57.

Yep, those were the *backbones* of ARPANET. We had *ONE* at the
University of Maryland back in the 1970s. That leased line cost
thousands of dollars per month, and was paid for by darpa. Compare that
to the backbones of today which are measured in terrabits per second.
These 56K backbones were connected to mainframe computers that acted as
concentrators, and provided connections to other mainframes, and to
thousands of users on timesharing systems. Yes, I have that right,
*thousands* of users shared a single 56K backbone.

Those users that were local to the concentrator (eg, in the computer
room) were connected to the mainframe by various speed RS-232 lines, but
those who were on remote dial up connections were connected by good old
bell 103, 110 to 300 baud modems.

Heh heh heh...the "high tech" of its time, a mere 30+ years
ago. "Speedy" Teletype Model 33s (?) and "high speed" 300
baud video terminals (with local memory to print out screens
on Teletypes) where I was using it. :-)

300 baud, my ass! You should have been on a time sharing machine
connected directly to the 56K ARPANET,

Yep, we were on timesharing machines, Univac 1106's, 1108's, and 1140's,
and as I said, thousands of users shared a single 56K leased line into
Darpanet. Do the math, if you can't, I'll help you:

56K/1000 = 56 bps.

If there were *only* 1000 users vying for the net at the same time, they
could each pump 56bps into the backbone. But there were many many more
than that, and they weren't always needing the net all of the time.
(hence the name concentrator)

"Concentrators" still exist but in a vastly different form,
configuration, and specifications. As a personal computer
hobbyist since '76 I've not delved into them (no need to for
personal dial-up connections) but know many who are; they
have supplied some interesting literature on them as well as
in-person explanations.

so don't bother to backpedal by

I'm sorry, I don't backpedal for idiots. I don't brake for them either.

Blowcode is the road kill of this newsgroup...

claiming dialup speeds. (And of course Usenet didn't even begin until
the 80's, shortly after ARPANET had ended.)

Don't try to bull**** someone who has forgotten more about the subject
than you have yet to learn.

Riiiight! Just because you can look up darpa on a wiki somewhere,
doesn't mean you can understand what you have read.

HAAAAAA... :-)

Blowcode has never stated his amateur license call. Perhaps
he has "forgotten" it? :-)

I haven't forgotten it. It's a real 20WPM extra class licence. Not one of
them cheap Nickled down hand-out ones. Heee Heeee Heeeeeeeeee.

Ten-Four Len?

SC