9 Mar
2023
9 Mar
'23
2:10 a.m.
On Mar 8, 2023, at 8:00 PM, Dave McGuire
<mcguire(a)neurotica.com> wrote:
On 3/8/23 19:48, Robert Armstrong wrote:
Um, routers are true DECnet nodes. The defintion of a DECnet node is "a software
construct that implements (a suitable subset of) the DECnet protocols". It has been
true for a very long time that not all DECnet nodes are general purpose computers in which
DECnet is merely one of many OS services. Routers, as dedicated devices, appeared in the
early 1980s. And that isn't even counting PDP-10 front ends running Phase II
Intercept service; those are routers too, though the name wasn't applied at the time.
For that matter, there are also DECnet nodes that are neither routers nor general purpose
computers. The network-connected PostScript printers (LPS40, LPS20) are an example, as
are some of the earlier X terminals. (Wasn't there something called the VT1000?)
paul
I think we should drop Cisco IOS and pyDECnet
from the count - those
aren't really OSes for our purposes.
I agree that they're not, but I think we should keep them in there, to identify the
nodes. Perhaps add a flag in the database schema saying it's a router, rather than a
"true" DECnet node?
-Dave