The storage media of most optical storage systems in production today are in the form of a rotating disk. In general the disks are preformatted using grooves and lands (tracks) to enable positioning an optical pickup and recording head to access information on the disk. A focused laser beam emanating…
In 1979, UseNet, a multidisciplinary computer network of news and discussion groups is formed on two campuses in North Carolina. Providing a unique forum to gather information and exchange ideas, Usenet grows from it’s origin as an underground activity among graduate students into a vast international phenomenon. It’s popularity influences…
In 1977, a TCP message makes a trip through a packet-radio host, a satellite network host, and an ARPANet host without losing a single unit of information. The transmission demonstrates the feasibility of TCP-based networking. Enabling distinct networks to communicate with each other, the details were published in a paper…
In a thesis submitted to Harvard University in 1973, Bob Metcalfe outlines the foundation for a new networking protocol he calls “Ethernet” , representing the architecture of a LAN, creating what would eventually be the standard internetworking system. It is interesting to note his original dissertation regarding the ARPANet was…
The TV Typewriter was designed by Don Lancaster. It used $120 worth of electronics components, as outlined in the September 1973 issue of Radio Electronics. The original design included two memory boards and could generate and store 512 characters as 16 lines of 32 characters. A 90-minute cassette tape provided…
Norman Abramson designed a network of radio links that allowed the exchange of data among computers located on four of the Hawaiian Islands. At the behest of Robert Taylor, then head of ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office, funding was put into a network that sends messages through radio waves to…