On Sun, Sep 24, 2000 at 08:49:37AM +1100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Yes, but token ring involves specialised hardware. I's there a way of
> adding on this functionality to standard twisted-pair/coax ethernets ?
>
> A few ideas come to mind.
>
> A user space solution involves waiting for a packet from the previous
> machine before sending your data to the corresponding open socket.
>
> This could be implemented in kernel space, eliminating some of the
> user space latency.
>
> There is, however, latency to send data to the card before the card
> starts to transmit. If we are aiming for about 20% improvement, the
> total latency round the whole set would have to be a good deal less
> than this for the exercise to be worthwhile.
>
> Ideally, the card could have its buffer loaded with data, and then
> have the transmit delayed till a packet from the previous computer had
> been received. The latency would be really low in this case. How
> compatible is the common interface to ethernet cards with this approach ?
>
> I'd imagine token rings implement this in hardware, seriously reducing
> the latency. But I'm looking for a way to add the functionality to
> current standard ethernet links.
>
> --
> John August
Or, you could use a switch. Full duplex, no collisions until you saturate
the switch (which is normally when all the devices on the network
are going flat out).
Stephen
--
Stephen Norris [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Farrow Norris Pty Ltd +61 2 417 243 239
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