[cc'd back to debian as a request for confirmation/correction] Please realize that, at least from my side, this thread is purely for informational purposes, and out of interest. i am not trying to make life hard for anyone.
the thread started because Andres calls his alamin.org project a gateway, and i said it should be a bridge. we are finding out that gateway isn't too wrong... also sprach Andres Seco Hernandez (on Thu, 20 Sep 2001 12:33:55AM +0200): > I was thinking that a bridge connects same topology networks, no > different. this is false. bridges operate on the data-link layer (layer 2) of the ISO/OSI stack model, as opposed to routers and gateways, which work on level 3 (network) and up. Tanenbaum states in "Computer Networks" (3rd ed., 1996) that bridges are frequently used to connect remote sites with different network technologies, rather than having a coax cable (for thinnet) go between them. and in Perlman (1992) "Interconnections: Bridges and Routers", he states explicitly that "Bridges are the only devices that can connect networks of different topologies; e.g. The connection between Token Ring and Ethernet networks is a bridge." More accurately, this should be "anything that connects two networks of different topology is a bridge, or possesses the features of a bridge. In fact, a Linux computer can run as a bridge, but not without trouble because bridges *do not* go higher than OSI Level 2. A router is a simple packet forwarder based on decision/routing tables. in its basic definition, it connects networks of same topology and protocol, but modern routers or ISDN routers frequently add to this by providing a link between PPP encapsulation and ethernet (or ATM encapsulation). According to http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?gateway, a gateway is a deprecated term for a protocol converter, but it also applies to your situation, so in the end you are right: "An interface between an information source and a World-Wide Web server. Common Gateway Interface is a standard for such interfaces." so while Alamin bridges between GSM and Ethernet, it is also an SMS and IP gateway, right? martin; (greetings from the heart of the sun.) \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:"; [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- *** closing link: disconnecting from stoned server.
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