A laboratory for teaching computer networks

A laboratory for teaching computer networking techniques is described. Each workstation consists of a 68008 μP operating under the OS-9 operating system. The workstations are networked via an ARCNET local area network to a common file server. The workstations were initially constructed to teach microprocessors and have been designed so that external components can be interfaced to them via a proprietary bus design using prototyping boards with plug-in wires and components. The computer networking experiments use groups of four workstations connected via their serial interfaces to a simple circuit that simulates a bus. This circuit also detects a collision on the bus caused by more than one station transmitting simultaneously and signals the four workstations via their DCD lines. Two semesters of laboratory experiments have been developed. The first builds MAC layer protocols and the second builds higher layer protocols