Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Super Cheap IP router (< $1000)
Message-ID: <1989Apr14.190219.1585@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <8904140206.AA10084@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <15321@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 89 19:02:19 GMT

In article <15321@bellcore.bellcore.com> karn@ka9q.bellcore.com (Phil Karn) writes:
>As an additional aside, polling is the standard technique used in electronic
>telephone switches. Imagine an interrupt-driven switch when all the phones
>come off-hook simultaneously...

At least one terminal switch, built by otherwise very professional people,
did in fact collapse when presented with a large number of simultaneous
connection requests.  I shouldn't give names, since this may well have been
fixed by now -- it wasn't recent.  Normally it's very uncommon for lots of
people to hit BREAK simultaneously, but when you're talking about a military
school with a whole class of cadets being marched into the terminal room, 
sitting down, and then hitting BREAK en masse, it can happen...
-- 
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu