Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!cup.portal.COM!hal
From: hal@cup.portal.COM
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Ethernet2 and IEEE 802.3
Message-ID: <9006161907.2.12619@cup.portal.com>
Date: 17 Jun 90 02:07:34 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 29


I've been trying to resolve if 
Ethernet2 can interoperate with
(be on the same cable, talk together) a IEEE 802.3
at the *physical layer*.  I've asked
a number of knowledgeable folk and, while these
discussions were useful, I was left with a range
of answers.  I figure the question 
can't be that hard and someone must have already   
been through this. Roughly, I got these answers:

(1) NO. Both Ethernet2 and IEEE802.3  
can use the same LAN cable system BUT, they cannot
talk (communicate) with each other at the physical layer.

(2) MAYBE. Both (Ethernet2 and IEEE802.3) are very *very*
close (at the physical layer) and maybe functionally 
equivalent.  They SHOULD be above to interoperate and 
coexist on the same cable.

(3) YES. Of course they can. They are a little different
(IEEE802.3 physical layer has a heartbeat and one or two
optional signals) but YES, they can interoperate and 
coexist on the same cable.  

Are any of these the correct answer? SUN seems
to support both physical layers from a single interface. So
I assume that (3) is correct. Am I right?