[GreenKeys] Internet

[Bob Camp]

Hi

It is hard to say that any one thing is the single precursor to the 
internet. Obviously nothing ever quite appears without any connection to the 
past.

The network that most directly evolved into the Internet was known as 
ARPANET in the early 1970's. ARPANET was set up when it became apparent that 
file transfer was an important part of academic research. The networks that 
came before it were targeted at switching messages between Teletype 
machines.

As an 1974 example of the difference: On ARPANET you could route from your 
IMP to a giant computer half way across the country and leave an email for 
somebody. On the TWX network you dialed up your Teletype to connect to the 
other guy's Teletype and typed your message to him.

At the time this didn't seem like a real big difference. Either way the guy 
got the message. In both cases the response time to the message was likely 
to be a bit long.

The early ARPANET was far from robust. It was a point to point arrangement 
and the failure of a switch anywhere in the chain shut the link down. The 
switch might not come back up until parts made it out to the site from 
Cambridge MA. This was in the days before FEDEX ....

The reliability issue is what got people thinking about how to build more 
robust networks for switched data. The contracts that went out in this area 
mostly began in the mid to late 1970's. The end results were intended for 
all sorts of things but the test bed was the ARPANET.

Not sure how much that has to do with Teletypes ...

    Take Care!

        Bob Camp
        KB8TQ



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James" <semaj at suwanneevalley.net>
To: <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 7:22 PM
Subject: [GreenKeys] Internet


>
>
> Good evening,
>
>
>
> Was the precursor to the internet a need for military to communicate with
> its bases regardless of which bases were ‘knocked out’ by an atomic bomb?
> Before ‘internet’ if the next base on the line was gone then one could not
> communicate with any of the distant bases.
>
> I presume they communicated Via Teletype therefore this in only half off
> topic.
>
>
>
> If Mt. St. Helens is emitting steam and ash is that classified as a half 
> ash
> eruption?
>
>
>
> KV4FE
>
> JIM
>
> Suwannee River
>
>
>
> Joan & Jim
>
> On The River
>
>
>
>
> ---
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