Re: Networking Calcs
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Re: Networking Calcs
Brett Morrow <nospambmorrow@wam.umd.edu> wrote:
>My friends and I had this idea so we could hook all of our 85's together, it
>never materialized, but I'd be interested to hear how to make it work.
Sure, just design and build a hub and write a bunch of software that works
with it.
I find it to be overly ambitious as an idea and not something I'd consider
doing, since there'd be relatively little software support for it unless you
started building and selling them *cheap* on the net :)
Ideas:
* You could make a box with four link plugs, each one takes a link cable.
* Data could be circulated between calculators by looping:
[ ayt ] Calculator replies if it's there
[ size ] Send a small bit of info about how big the "packet" of
incoming data is.
[ host ] This is the port # the data is coming from
[ data ] Send that much data
[ data ack ] Calculator acknowledges data--resend on error?
[ ready ] This signal prompts the calculator to send any data IT
wants to let the net know about, in the above packet
format of datasize, data, data ack.
* The hub will alternate between all four hosts. If it knows one of the
four is not connected to the net (i.e., hasn't answered its AYT), it
will not wait for it to answer and will not relay data to it. It will
only acknowledge it if the CALC issues an ayt after it connects.
* All data will be echoed to all calculators.
* What a calculator does with the data is entirely up to the calculators.
It could just be a chat program (dumb IMHO, doubt you'll get away with
carrying around a hub in math class) or a racing game with four players.
* If you don't WANT to stick a processor in your hub (which would probably
put the scope of the project beyond what you're considering), you might
consider making it relay signals to a master calculator that interprets
them and relays them back, or some other device you have. I don't have
a lot of ideas on how to make building a hub easier, really :(
If you make a working hub, I have more than four calculators and I'd love
to play with such a thing. If you have other ideas, I'd also like to hear
them and give feedback, but I can't personally involve myself much beyond
that level. I would appreciate feedback on my ideas as well :)
Good luck if anyone decides to make such a beast!
--
naisbodo@naisbodo.com
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