ARCNET

An ARCNET adapter for an Amiga 500 computer. The small card next to it is the size of a credit card.

Attached Resource Computer NETwork (ARCNET or ARCnet) is a communications protocol for local area networks. ARCNET was the first widely available networking system for microcomputers and it became popular in the 1980s for office automation tasks. It was later applied to embedded systems where certain features of the protocol are especially useful.

2.5 Mbit/s for ARCnet) helped to increase Ethernet's demand. As more companies entered the market, the price of Ethernet started to fall while ARCNET and Token Ring volumes tapered off.

In response to greater bandwidth needs, and the challenge of Ethernet, a new standard called ARCnet Plus was developed by Datapoint and introduced in 1992. ARCnet Plus ran at 610 m (2,000 ft) between active hubs or between an active hub and an end node, while the RG-58 (50 Ω) thin Ethernet was limited to a maximum run of 60 m (200 ft) away. Cable was run from each port of the active hubs to a different location no more than

In the early 1980s, ARCNET was much cheaper than Ethernet, in particular for PCs. For example, in 1985 SMC sold ARCNET cards for around 100 Mbit/s topology called TCNS based on the ARCNET protocol, which also supported RG-62, twisted-pair, and fiber optic media. TCNS enjoyed some success until the availability of lower-cost "ARCNET and the ATA History". arcnet.cc. Retrieved 2022-10-14.

↑ Reed, Matthew. "The TRS‑80 Model 4P". Retrieved 2022-10-13.

↑ Carleton University. "Efficiency of CSMA/CD" (PDF).

↑ "The Rodney Dangerfield of Network Computing", archive.org