
TCP/IP over Lego model train - llambda
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/110603-tcpip-over-lego-model-train
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huhtenberg
Ah, damn. A USB stick. I was really hoping the train would be carrying actual
SYNs, ACKs and DATA payloads using differently colored bricks :)

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qdot76367
The wonderful thing about nerd rage is that it gets stupid things done. I
fully expect to see a response project of ACTUAL TCP/IP implementations via
lego trains. Hell, multiple response projects, probably.

And then someone will do IPX/SPX just to be cute.

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jpdoctor
> _I fully expect to see a response project of ACTUAL TCP/IP implementations
> via lego trains._

Here's hoping that they also work their way up the OSI stack. I'm looking
forward to seeing what "418 I'm a teapot" looks like from the LEGO http
server.

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mjwalshe
or even a full x.400 mail system linking to a real x.500 directory

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eduardoflores
I would had called the post "TCP/IP on Rails"

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mrushton14
The article doesn't do much to explain how it uses TCP/IP which makes me
wonder if it does at all?

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zrail
So, token ring networking with a data-carrying physical token. Neat.

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lubutu
It would be neater if it were a freight train carrying blocks for bits. Using
a USB key isn't really 'Lego' enough.

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bradleyland
The trick would be loading/unloading the cars in a reliable and fast way. With
a multi-cart train running in a loop, I probably wouldn't shoot for TCP/IP.

Something like T1 would be a lot easier to implement because it uses very
straight forward time-division-mutiplexing (serial by nature). You could use a
simplistic encoding method like AMI, but your frames would have to be much
smaller. The simplest T1 carrier frame is 192 data bits with 1 signaling bit,
so you're looking at a pretty massive train. Because the physical train itself
could serve as the frame boundaries, you could use 16 cars and carry two bytes
per trip.

The bit rate and latency are going to suck though ;)

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Ecio78
it reminds me of IP over Avian Carriers:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers>

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darklajid
You mean one of the humorous RFCs that the article refers to and links to
already, right?

