In article <4bbbf070.6000...@sprunk.org>, Stephen Sprunk
<step...@sprunk.org> writes
Ah, but what _caused_ Ethernet to become ubiquitous, given the price was
initially comparable?
For me, as an SME user, I started using Ethernet when Dlink introduced
an ISA card [DE205] which had a 4-port hub built in (actually 5-port if
you counted the internal one), at not a great deal more than a normal
10Base-T card. I think it was about $250, when a typical desktop PC was
$2500.
So all I needed to build my network was one of those, some cable, and
add-in Ethernet cards for each other PC I wanted to bring into the LAN.
As icing on the cake, they also had a Centronics-port dongle to hook up
almost all laptops very easily, and in an emergency you could even use
it on a desktop.
Price was a major feature, but interoperability and backwards
compatibility were the tipping points.
--
Roland Perry
