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From: DCP@QUABBIN.SCRC.SYMBOLICS.COM.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: re: IEEE and Ethernet
Message-ID: <860627194614.5.DCP@FIREBIRD.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>
Date: Fri, 27-Jun-86 19:46:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: FIREBIRD.860627194614.5.DCP
Posted: Fri Jun 27 19:46:00 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Jun-86 10:53:48 EDT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
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Approved: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa


    Date: 26 Jun 1986 10:09:18 PDT
    From: POSTEL@USC-ISIB.ARPA


    David:

    Opening another can of worms ...

    In IEEE 802 the thing most similar to the Ethernet type is called a
    "service access point" or SAP, but it is only 8 bits and two of those
    are wasted on some other general coding, so there are only 64 SAPs to
    assign.  So after assigning one to identify ISO-IP and one to identify
    DOD-IP, the IEEE 802 committee decided that there weren't enough and
    refused to assign a SAP to identify ARP.  There is some committee work
    in progress to come up with an extended SAP field.

    --jon.
    -------

[I'm probably sounding like a big flamer...]  It really amazes me that
people are trying to squeeze 300 options into 20 bits.  This isn't the
1960s anymore.  Just a few weeks ago a megabit ram chip costs $35.
That's the equivalent of TWO, count'em, TWO PDP-11 (non-memory mapped)
address spaces (2^16 bytes each).  I recall hearing rumors about various
namespace/domain proposals (the X, Y and Z proposals?) that tried to do
similar bit cramming.

IT ISN'T WORTH IT, folks.  Maybe somebody should seriously suggest that
IEEE 802 be scrapped and something more rational and less
wasn't-invented-here be made to put in its place.

Would Henry Nussbacher, if he is still out there, please resend the
article he sent on 31 March 1985.  It is a great story about the Mericos
and the Eups on the planet Urth about trains with rubber-coatetd wheels.
I don't remember what the analogy was then (probably the TP4 debate),
but it is very fitting to the current situation.

PS, I am still having mail troubles.  These might be problems on our
end.  If so, tell me.  If not, fix your end.

Unable to deliver letter to the following recipients:
  POSTEL@USC-ISIB.ARPA: SMTP error from USC-ISIB: 501 Error in path -DCP@ELEPHANT-BUTTE.SCRC.Symbolics.COM
  TCP-IP@SRI-NIC.ARPA: Unknown response from host SRI-NIC:  (expecting 220).