[MUD-Dev] Languages

[Chris Gray]

[Jeff K:]

:In addition taht massive down-channel capabiltiy that keeps gettign quoted
:is SHARED capability for everyoen in your neighborhood.. its much like many
:machines on a 10mb etehernet cable. Sure the cabel is 10mb/sec, but due to
:packet collision how much fo that YOU get is dependnant on whoever else is
:on the cable and how active they are.

Yes, but with cable modems, a polling system is used, so there are no
collisions and backoffs. The result is that the system actually can get
its full capacity. Also, there are tricks in the works such as using
multiple modulation frequencies (it is all going on a coax cable after
all). A good friend of mine is now doing networking stuff for one of
the large Canadian cable companies, so has all the technical details. He
seems quite confident that cable modems really are a workable solution.
The big problem for them, and for anyone else trying to bring the internet
into the home, is IP addresses.

:Cable mdoems are another one of those misunderstood technologies that
:everyone is playing wishful-thinking on...

Yes, but I wouldn't count them out yet. The above-mentioned company, for
example, is going at it the right way. They are stringing fibre all over
the place, as fast as they possibly can. They are getting high-capacity
routers and placing them throughout the cities, and they are actually
trying to forecast expected usage and plan and build for it. If they had
the physical plant in my area of the city (not expected until the fall),
I'm sure it would have been unavoidable for me to have one! :-)

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA