Re: what about 48 bits?

[Joe Greco <jgreco () ns sol net>]

> For me, as an SME user, I started using Ethernet when Dlink introduced 
> an ISA card [DE205] which had a 4-port hub built in (actually 5-port if 
> you counted the internal one), at not a great deal more than a normal 
> 10Base-T card.  I think it was about $250, when a typical desktop PC was 
> $2500.
>
> [...]
>
> Price was a major feature, but interoperability and backwards 
> compatibility were the tipping points.

Ah, yes, backwards compatibility: implementing the fantastic feature of
breaking the network...  we all remember the fun of what happened when
someone incorrectly unhooked a 10base2 network segment; D-Link managed
to one-up that on the theoretically more-robust 10baseT/UTP by
introducing a card that'd break your network when you powered off the
attached PC.

Designer of that deserved to be whipped with some RG-58.  :-)

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.