how to make a fast ethernet loopback cable

The autonomy of the nodes means that any given device is free to transmit at any time, while the sharing of a common medium - originally a single coaxial cable - means that if two (or more) nodes decide to begin transmitting at the same time, those transmissions will collide. The context in which CSMA/CD operates is that of a fully distributed, packet-switched network consisting of autonomous nodes connected to a shared transmission medium (see Figure 1). The protocol which Metcalfe described in his memo is now known as Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection, or CSMA/CD, after the title of the first IEEE 802.3 standard. Metcalfe delivers a memo to his employers in which he coins the term ‘ethernet’, and outlines the essentials of what will become the world’s pre-eminent local area networking technology.īob Metcalfe's 1973 sketch of his original 'Ethernet' vision. Meanwhile, at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC) in California, a 27-year-old recent PhD graduate called Robert Metcalfe has been tasked with adding networking functionality to the company’s new Alto computer - the machine whose revolutionary graphical user interface would famously ‘inspire’ Steve Jobs. In America, Skylab is launched, and Richard Nixon confesses to his role in the Watergate cover-up. In Britain, VAT and the Austin Allegro have recently been introduced. The home of Ethernet: Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center. So why has it taken so long for Ethernet to reach the recording studio, and what key benefits does it have to offer? To find the answers, we need to take a look at the development of Ethernet itself, and that means going back, back through the swirling mists of time.

Yet, in principle, Ethernet has unique advantages over other formats, and it has already come to dominate the worlds of installation and high-end live sound. It wasn’t until 2011 - 26 years after the publication of the IEEE 802.3 standard - that the first DAW-focused Ethernet recording interfaces appeared.

Until recently, however, the oldest and most ubiquitous connection format of all was absent from this list. Today, anyone wishing to add a high-quality, low-latency, multi-channel audio interface to a computer is spoiled for choice, with devices available in a whole host of formats: PCI, PCI Express, Cardbus, Expresscard, FireWire 400 and 800, USB Full-Speed, High-Speed and Super-Speed and Thunderbolt 1 and 2. We explain how it works - and why there are so many protocols! The humble Ethernet cable: key to the future of digital audio?Īlready dominant elsewhere, audio over IP is poised to take over the studio world.

How to make a fast ethernet loopback cable