toasternet - noun - networking 1. A low cost, low tech, publicly
accessible local community network. This is probably an extension of
the term "toaster" used to mean a small, cheap, slow computer.
2. The title of some informal notes on Internet addressing,
("Toasternet Part I and II"), circulated on the IETF mailing list
during November 1991 and March 1992. Subsequent work was published in June
1993 in RFC 1475 and
RFC 1476 and the
"CATNIP" Internet-Draft by
Robert L. Ullmann
The following article and photo was borrowed without permission from
The Millenium Whole Earth Catalog, page 240:
Bill Woodcock builds fancy
corporate computer networks by day and "chewing
gum and baling wire" toasternets by night. He builds these consummate
street-tech creatures out of "borrowed, salvaged, reclaimed, recycled,
dumpster-dived, and cobbled-together hardware."
"Toasternets are private, independent Internet-connected networks that
spring up in basements, closets, wherever there's space. They are built by
individuals, often, using bizarre mixtures of mismatched hardware and
software. Prototype highspeed routers and network hardware nestle
comfortably among antiquated UNIX hosts built from ten-year-old discarded
parts; alpha-test software runs on machines salvaged from junkyards and
dumpsters. Macintoshes run ported PC software; PCs run one-of a-kind
operating systems. Many toasternets seem at first like hellish tangles of
junk, unlikely to work at all. Fact is, the intensity of competition, the
rate of propagation, and the great variety of methods and combinations
have created a form of electronic Darwinism. Software, protocols, and
routing algorithms are born, fan out over the net, and disappear, prey to
faster, more reliable, more portable new generations. Toasternets are a
hothouse for technological standards, and we all profit from the resulting
hybrid vigor." - Bill Woodcock
1) FTP server drive. 2) POP mail spooler. 3) Prototype PPP router
being tested. 4) Livingston Portmaster router. 5) Norris Earphone atop a
stack of modems. 6) punchdown blocks. 7) HTTP server, AURP router,
AFP server, PAP spooler. 8) CD drive. 9) mail, FTP, primary nameserver,
shell accounts. 10) news spooling drive. 11) Powerbook serves as a
mobile administration console, as well as phone book, etc. 12) news and
NFS server, secondary nameserver.
"Toasternets are private, independent Internet-connected networks that
spring up in basements, closets, wherever there's space. They are built by
individuals, often, using bizarre mixtures of mismatched hardware and
software. Prototype highspeed routers and network hardware nestle
comfortably among antiquated UNIX hosts built from ten-year-old discarded
parts; alpha-test software runs on machines salvaged from junkyards and
dumpsters. Macintoshes run ported PC software; PCs run one-of a-kind
operating systems. Many toasternets seem at first like hellish tangles of
junk, unlikely to work at all. Fact is, the intensity of competition, the
rate of propagation, and the great variety of methods and combinations
have created a form of electronic Darwinism. Software, protocols, and
routing algorithms are born, fan out over the net, and disappear, prey to
faster, more reliable, more portable new generations. Toasternets are a
hothouse for technological standards, and we all profit from the resulting
hybrid vigor." - Bill Woodcock