Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.misc:1073 comp.os.cpm:4304 alt.folklore.computers:6811 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!bu.edu!shelby!helens!news From: news@helens.Stanford.EDU (news) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.misc,comp.os.cpm,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Early microcomputer networks Message-ID: Date: 6 Nov 90 21:11:35 GMT Organization: Stanford University Lines: 26 Back in the late 70's and early 80's, the Physics department at Washington University (St. Louis) had a primitive (by today's standards) network of 8 to 10 diskless PDP-11's running a modified RT-11 hanging off of a dedicated PDP-11 disk server. Each client had it's own coax link to the server. (Good thing they had separate lines too, since nearly every thunderstorm blew the transceiver chips at both ends of the long line out to the cyclotron building.) Around 1980, with the proliferation of micros like the Apple II and S-100 CPM boxes, the architect of the system, Prof. Scandrett, extended the network so that micros could all share the same cable. He had it working on the Apple II's. In 1981, I hacked up CPM's BIOS to make the disk server look like a (rather large) CPM drive. Disk storage (other than floppies) was quite expensive at the time, so I'm sure there were similar ad-hoc networks elsewhere. Everyone knows about ethernet, which was by then, I believe, common at most large universities. But what about networks that became extinct, the network dinosaurs? What was happening with other mini/microcomputer networks around that time? Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics Durand 012 Stanford University FAX: (415) 725-3377 (jim@KAOS.stanford.edu) Work: (415) 723-9127