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tr173 [2020-12-16 17:47] – created victor | tr173 [2021-05-17 17:44] (current) – [6. User's impressions of the Chaosnet/SUPDUP MIT environment] victor | ||
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====== LOCAL NETWORKING AT THE M.I.T. COMPUTER LABORATORIES: | ====== LOCAL NETWORKING AT THE M.I.T. COMPUTER LABORATORIES: | ||
Marek W. Lugowski | Marek W. Lugowski | ||
+ | |||
Indiana University Computer Science Department | Indiana University Computer Science Department | ||
+ | |||
Technical Report #173 | Technical Report #173 | ||
+ | |||
November 1984 - June 1985 | November 1984 - June 1985 | ||
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Local base-band area networks, time-sharing terminal, file-transfer protocols, design of distributed computing environments, | Local base-band area networks, time-sharing terminal, file-transfer protocols, design of distributed computing environments, | ||
- | ===== Environment ===== | + | ===== - Environment ===== |
The computing environment described in this paper is an important subset of MIT's total computing environment, | The computing environment described in this paper is an important subset of MIT's total computing environment, | ||
a close symbiotic relationship, | a close symbiotic relationship, | ||
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is connected to 545 Technology Square (the MIT computer science labs) via a roof-mounted microwave link. | is connected to 545 Technology Square (the MIT computer science labs) via a roof-mounted microwave link. | ||
- | ===== Inventing equipment ahead of the marketplace ===== | + | ===== - Inventing equipment ahead of the marketplace ===== |
A good deal of the above environment' | A good deal of the above environment' | ||
particularly obscure device, and certainly no outside repairman would be willing to mess with this hardware. The home-made core memories, the home-made lisp machines, and the home-made peripheral devices, as well as the bridges connecting Chaos links, all fit in this category. | particularly obscure device, and certainly no outside repairman would be willing to mess with this hardware. The home-made core memories, the home-made lisp machines, and the home-made peripheral devices, as well as the bridges connecting Chaos links, all fit in this category. | ||
- | ===== Problems peculiar to the MIT computer labs ===== | + | ===== - Problems peculiar to the MIT computer labs ===== |
The labs have a long tradition of using the DEC PDP-10 computers. Each lab has a huge DecSystem-20 and a couple smaller KI-10 systems, some almost on the way out. The hackers at the labs have been historically fond of these machines, and a lot of them refuse to hack on anything else but those (and, of course, the lisp machines). | The labs have a long tradition of using the DEC PDP-10 computers. Each lab has a huge DecSystem-20 and a couple smaller KI-10 systems, some almost on the way out. The hackers at the labs have been historically fond of these machines, and a lot of them refuse to hack on anything else but those (and, of course, the lisp machines). | ||
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Despite these differences, | Despite these differences, | ||
- | ===== Chaosnet, MIT's own local area network architecture ===== | + | ===== - Chaosnet, MIT's own local area network architecture ===== |
- | ==== INTRODUCTION ==== | + | ==== - INTRODUCTION ==== |
Before the Ethernet was commercially available, the people at the MIT computer science laboratories decided to develop and install their own local area network. The need was motivated by the parallel effort at developing the lisp machine. Lisp machine, conceptually a multiprocessor, | Before the Ethernet was commercially available, the people at the MIT computer science laboratories decided to develop and install their own local area network. The need was motivated by the parallel effort at developing the lisp machine. Lisp machine, conceptually a multiprocessor, | ||
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While predating the commercial availability of the Ethernet, the Chaosnet project heavily borrowed on the research already done at Xerox PARC, as well on the concepts developed in TCP and the Arpanet. Nowadays, a lot of the hardware on which the Chaosnet runs is the very same thing supplied by the Ethernet vendor. | While predating the commercial availability of the Ethernet, the Chaosnet project heavily borrowed on the research already done at Xerox PARC, as well on the concepts developed in TCP and the Arpanet. Nowadays, a lot of the hardware on which the Chaosnet runs is the very same thing supplied by the Ethernet vendor. | ||
- | ==== HARDWARE ==== | + | ==== - HARDWARE ==== |
The physical medium of the Chaosnet is the 75-ohm TV cable. | The physical medium of the Chaosnet is the 75-ohm TV cable. | ||
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The interface is a wire-wrap board containing some 120 TTL chips. It implements the network' | The interface is a wire-wrap board containing some 120 TTL chips. It implements the network' | ||
- | ==== HARDWARE PROTOCOLS ==== | + | ==== - HARDWARE PROTOCOLS ==== |
These protocols deliver packets from node to node on the same cable. They provide a decent probability of successful delivery and packet integrity (i.e., if a packet is compromised, | These protocols deliver packets from node to node on the same cable. They provide a decent probability of successful delivery and packet integrity (i.e., if a packet is compromised, | ||
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nodes will not collide again on the retransmission in a periodic lock. | nodes will not collide again on the retransmission in a periodic lock. | ||
- | ==== OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE PROTOCOLS ==== | + | ==== - OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE PROTOCOLS ==== |
These protocols arrange for high-speed interchanges between hosts, regardless of location (hosts may reside on different cable links), and without undetected transmission errors. The original design goals called for the speed of file transfers to be comparable to that of inexpensive tape drives, 3 K characters per second, | These protocols arrange for high-speed interchanges between hosts, regardless of location (hosts may reside on different cable links), and without undetected transmission errors. The original design goals called for the speed of file transfers to be comparable to that of inexpensive tape drives, 3 K characters per second, | ||
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now popularized through HDLC protocols. An acknowledgment obviates the need for sending receipts. Each higher-level protocol has a pre-adjusted window size, and although there is a facility for communicating dynamic adjustment of windows, this is never done in practice, to avoid introducing complexity into the protocols. | now popularized through HDLC protocols. An acknowledgment obviates the need for sending receipts. Each higher-level protocol has a pre-adjusted window size, and although there is a facility for communicating dynamic adjustment of windows, this is never done in practice, to avoid introducing complexity into the protocols. | ||
- | ==== HIGHER-LEVEL PROTOCOLS ==== | + | ==== - HIGHER-LEVEL PROTOCOLS ==== |
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one of the PDP-10s which act as Arpanet gateways, TIME provides the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1900 Greenwich Mean Time as a 32-bit number. Lisp machines, which do not have hardware calendar clocks, use TIME to find out the date and time when they first come up for service. The SUPDUP protocol is discussed later in this paper; it is a ment of TELNET. | one of the PDP-10s which act as Arpanet gateways, TIME provides the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1900 Greenwich Mean Time as a 32-bit number. Lisp machines, which do not have hardware calendar clocks, use TIME to find out the date and time when they first come up for service. The SUPDUP protocol is discussed later in this paper; it is a ment of TELNET. | ||
- | ==== FOREIGN PROTOCOLS IN Chaosnet ==== | + | ==== - FOREIGN PROTOCOLS IN Chaosnet ==== |
Any foreign protocol based on the idea of a full-duplex stream (or 2 half-duplex streams) of 8-bit bytes can be simply incorporated into Chaosnet using the Chaosnet connection mechanism instead of whatever stream protocol the foreign protocol was originally using. This was the case with Arpanet' | Any foreign protocol based on the idea of a full-duplex stream (or 2 half-duplex streams) of 8-bit bytes can be simply incorporated into Chaosnet using the Chaosnet connection mechanism instead of whatever stream protocol the foreign protocol was originally using. This was the case with Arpanet' | ||
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There is a facility known as the Chaosnet foreign-protocol protocol which allows alien packets to be transmitted through Chaosnet or allows two Chaosnet hosts to speak in non-Chaos manner to each other. Occasionally non-stream I/O devices, such as graphics tablets, need to be connected to the network and this facility makes it possible. | There is a facility known as the Chaosnet foreign-protocol protocol which allows alien packets to be transmitted through Chaosnet or allows two Chaosnet hosts to speak in non-Chaos manner to each other. Occasionally non-stream I/O devices, such as graphics tablets, need to be connected to the network and this facility makes it possible. | ||
- | ===== SUPDUP -- Chaosnet' | + | ===== - SUPDUP -- Chaosnet' |
The SUPDUP' | The SUPDUP' | ||
- | the remote text editors (i.e., text editors used on the remote machine by the local user). SUPDUP means to be a superior | + | the remote text editors (i.e., text editors used on the remote machine by the local user). SUPDUP means to be a superior |
Both TELNET and SUPDUP define a virtual terminal, but TELNET' | Both TELNET and SUPDUP define a virtual terminal, but TELNET' | ||
is a simple teletype, whereas the SUPDUP defines a display terminal | is a simple teletype, whereas the SUPDUP defines a display terminal | ||
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The trade-off associated with SUPDUP is that the remote operating system must be able to talk to SUPDUP' | The trade-off associated with SUPDUP is that the remote operating system must be able to talk to SUPDUP' | ||
- | a meet for having to know exactly everything about all types of terminals connected to a system; the annoying symptom of this is the PRIMOS Emacs' prompt for supplying the terminal type the user is on, or the Termcap feature of Unix. | + | a ment for having to know exactly everything about all types of terminals connected to a system; the annoying symptom of this is the PRIMOS Emacs' prompt for supplying the terminal type the user is on, or the Termcap feature of Unix. |
From the user's point of view, SUPDUP is wonderful. It " | From the user's point of view, SUPDUP is wonderful. It " | ||
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| | ||
- | characters~ thatcan | + | characters |
The graphics protocol of SUPDUP has the nice property that the terminals using it are not aware of whether they are used remotely or locally. The graphics connection does not need any additional network connections, | The graphics protocol of SUPDUP has the nice property that the terminals using it are not aware of whether they are used remotely or locally. The graphics connection does not need any additional network connections, | ||
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not prompt for password again. While this may not be a good feature in a security-minded environment, | not prompt for password again. While this may not be a good feature in a security-minded environment, | ||
- | ===== User's impressions of the Chaosnet/ | + | ===== - User's impressions of the Chaosnet/ |
There was a time when MIT AI Lab's computing environment was regarded as the best in the world. That assessment is no longer uttered by quite as many people these days, and I think the main problem is the fact that the computing environment is outgrowing its local area network. | There was a time when MIT AI Lab's computing environment was regarded as the best in the world. That assessment is no longer uttered by quite as many people these days, and I think the main problem is the fact that the computing environment is outgrowing its local area network. | ||
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a virtual file system is becoming more painful each year, especially to new users. | a virtual file system is becoming more painful each year, especially to new users. | ||
- | | + | The robustness of Chaosnet, which is the flip-coin side of the simplicity of its design, is unquestionable. In my one year at the AI Lab I do not recall a single instance of the net being down. (Though, I do remember various bridges giving out from time to time, but no more or less often than " |
- | One also misses the ingenious behavior of SUPDUP once one grows accustomed to the conveniences it provides. Using things called " | + | One also misses the ingenious behavior of SUPDUP once one grows accustomed to the conveniences it provides. Using things called " |
The remote login facility works very nicely, as does the file transfer protocol, provided the two do not go head-to-head in | The remote login facility works very nicely, as does the file transfer protocol, provided the two do not go head-to-head in | ||
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The Chaosnet' | The Chaosnet' | ||
+ | |||
I am convinced that the bulk of what local networking does at | I am convinced that the bulk of what local networking does at | ||
MIT is done if not optimally then at least satisfactorily. Considering the huge number of interfaces to so many different operating systems and peripherals, | MIT is done if not optimally then at least satisfactorily. Considering the huge number of interfaces to so many different operating systems and peripherals, | ||
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deteriorating. Who knows, it might be even possible to improve it. | deteriorating. Who knows, it might be even possible to improve it. | ||
- | ===== Other network projects at MIT ===== | + | ===== - Other network projects at MIT ===== |
| | ||
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| | ||
the MIT-XX, a DecSystem-20, | the MIT-XX, a DecSystem-20, | ||
- | + | I think this is the right way to go. This would enable putting the networked terminals only on a subnet, possibly improving response time for all, distributing the known bottlenecks over more cable. The trend | |
- | | + | |
to have people work all day on dedicated lisp machines of a Symbolics 3640 class brings us one more step out of the dark ages of interactive computing, the age of the hardwired time-shared terminal. And, with projects such as the Gerald S. Sussman' | to have people work all day on dedicated lisp machines of a Symbolics 3640 class brings us one more step out of the dark ages of interactive computing, the age of the hardwired time-shared terminal. And, with projects such as the Gerald S. Sussman' | ||
and with the already manifested trend to have users save files on their local lisp machine' | and with the already manifested trend to have users save files on their local lisp machine' | ||
- | ===== Bibliography ===== | + | ===== - Bibliography ===== |
In order of utilization by this paper: | In order of utilization by this paper: | ||
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" | " | ||
+ | |||
"The Lisp Machine Manual", | "The Lisp Machine Manual", | ||
publication, | publication, | ||
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" | " | ||
- | Personal Communication sources, in alphabetical order: Alan Bawden, MIT AI Lab, September 1983 - August 1984. | + | |
- | Bernie Greenberg, Symbolics Inc., September 1983 - August 1984. Scott A. Jones, MIT AI Lab, August 1984 - May 1985. | + | Personal Communication sources, in alphabetical order: |
- | Christopher Lindblatt, ibid, August 1984 - May 1985. David Plaisier, Indiana University CS Dept., June 1985 Jerry Roylance, MIT AI Lab, September 1983 - August 1984. Steve Strassmann, ibid, September 1983 - December 1984. Jonathan Taft, ibid, September 1983 - August 1984. | + | * Alan Bawden, MIT AI Lab, September 1983 - August 1984. |
- | Gail Zacharias, lipid, December 1984 - January 1984. | + | |
+ | * Scott A. Jones, MIT AI Lab, August 1984 - May 1985. | ||
+ | | ||
+ | * David Plaisier, Indiana University CS Dept., June 1985 | ||
+ | * Jerry Roylance, MIT AI Lab, September 1983 - August 1984. | ||
+ | * Steve Strassmann, ibid, September 1983 - December 1984. | ||
+ | * Jonathan Taft, ibid, September 1983 - August 1984. | ||
+ | | ||
The author wishes to thank Professor Marvin Minsky for the invitation-to and generous support while at the MIT AI Lab, September 1983 to August 1984, and to Professor Douglas R. Hofstadter for making it possible. Th research conducted at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology' | The author wishes to thank Professor Marvin Minsky for the invitation-to and generous support while at the MIT AI Lab, September 1983 to August 1984, and to Professor Douglas R. Hofstadter for making it possible. Th research conducted at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology' |
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