swithch and hub question

[Robert Brockway]

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004, Lennart Sorensen wrote:

> Many new switches have them, but I haven't seen them on computers much
> in general (and I suspect something to do with managed switches might be
> the reason that they don't usually put them on computers, but I am
> really not sure.  Maybe it's a cost thing.)

I wondered this too but I can't see how the logic could be very
complicated so the cost should be a few millicents.

I suspect the problem has to do with a principal of capitalism.  Often
advances are not pushed to market just because they are better or even
because they would sell - there needs to be reason for them to get to
marker.  This could be one company trying to increase market share or it
could be customer demand or whatever.  Other examples of advances with
this problem include cell phones that synchronise time off the network and
Anti-Lock braking systems in cars (which took decades to get to the market
I understand).

One question about MDI/MDIX, what mechanism do they devices use to avoid a
dead-lock, where both ends are trying to auto-sync?  Do they backoff and
wait for a random amount of time before poling again, thus allowing for
overlap windows in which the 2 ends can sync up?

Rob

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Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org, rbrockway-cFo9iiqjkw8eIZ0/mPfg9Q at public.gmane.org
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