Re: Network visibility

[Mel Beckman <mel () beckman org>]

For several years we had UCSB’s IMP control panel hanging in our office as a wall decoration (it belonged to Larry 
Green, one of the UCSB IMPlementors). I still have the manuals. The actual IMP with 56Kbps modem was in a huge rack 
with lifting eyes for a fork lift, and weighed about 500 lbs. Every IMP had a unique customized host interface, which 
packetized bit-serial data from the host over the host’s usually proprietary I/O bus. 

While this was part of computers internetworking with each other, it was not the capital-I Internet.

 -mel 

> On Oct 20, 2021, at 2:20 PM, bzs () theworld com wrote:
>
> 
> > On October 20, 2021 at 16:08 mel () beckman org (Mel Beckman) wrote:
> > Mark,
> >
> > Before 1983, the ARPANET wasn’t an internet, let alone The Internet. Each
> > ARPANET connection required a host-specific interface (the “IMP”) and simplex
> > Network Control Protocol (NCP). NCP used users' email addresses, and routing
> > had to be specified in advance within each NCP message.
>
> Then again there were IMPs fitted to various systems like TOPS-10,
> ITS, Vax/BSD Unix, IBM370, etc.
>
> So was that really all that different from ethernet vs, oh, wi-fi or
> fiber today, you needed an adapter?
>
> > Even so, the Internet as a platform open to anyone didn’t start until 1992. I
> > know you joined late, in 1999, so you probably missed out on this history. :)
>
> Well, we certainly tried in 1989 :-) We had customers from all over
> The World, um, the big round one you see when you look down.
>
> > -mel
> >
> >
> >    On Oct 20, 2021, at 8:43 AM, Mark Tinka <mark@tinka.africa> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >    On 10/20/21 17:26, Mel Beckman wrote:
> >
> >
> >        Mark,
> >
> >        As long as we’re being pedantic, January 1, 1983 is considered the
> >        official birthday of the Internet, when TCP/IP first let different
> >        kinds of computers on different networks talk to each other. 
> >
> >        It’s 2021, hence the Internet is less than, not more than, 40 years
> >        old.  Given your mathematical skills, I put no stock in your claim that
> >        we still can’t “buy an NMS that just works.” :)
> >
> >
> >    Hehehe :-)...
> >
> >    I guess we can reliably say that the ARPANET wasn't keen on pretty
> >    pictures, then, hehe :-)...
> >
> >    Mark.
>
>
> -- 
>        -Barry Shein
>
> Software Tool & Die    | bzs () TheWorld com             | http://www.TheWorld.com
> Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD       | 800-THE-WRLD
> The World: Since 1989  | A Public Information Utility | *oo*