Can anybody explain in simple terms what it is, please? All I know is I use the ethernet port to connect to the internet, and it can be used for networking two computers. :confused:
For me, who is by no means computer literate. An ethernet connection enables a local area network (LAN) of more than one computer and therefore increased data transfer. For example when I connected to the internet via a broadband modem, I had an computer phone cable connection. Now I use a router, so that I can use my laptop elsewhere in the house/garden and for that my router needs to connected with an ethernet connection.
Thanks Beefy. Thats interesting. The idea of computers communicating with each other seems obvious but it was not always so. A long time ago, when I had an Apple ll computer, I went with a friend to a computer show in London. At the show was an IBM stand and they had the first IBM PC, which was not yet available in Europe. On the stand was the IBM research director. One of the first things I did was look behind the PC and then ask the director where the connecting wire was. 'What wire' he said. 'The one to connect the IBM PC to an IBM mainframe' I said. He then told me that no one in IBM had ever thought of connecting a PC to a mainframe. --- then came Ethernet for the PC.
A pity you didn't patent that suggestion Peter! You'd be rich. I've fond memories of the Apple II and the pre-GUI era. Having to type things like PR#6 to get it to look at a floppy or was to print? A green screen monitor (technology at the sharp edge) and a dot matrix printer that made a noise like ripping silk.
Things have moved on a bit Dave haven't they. But I think I learnt more from the old machines than the new ones that do everything for you whether you want it or not. When I started there was virtually no software around. So you had to either write it yourself in basic, or get a bootleg copy. The act of copying copy protected disks became a challenge and a hobby in itself. The reward was in the chase, not in the copied product. It didn't take long for my friends to show me how to take the cover off the floppy drives, mark up the tracks with sticky paper and adjust the drive speed whilst copying certain difficult tracks with bit counts. Happy days!
