Thank you for the kind comments. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. -- Tony Li
What is the state of internal architecture?
I'm a total network noob, but I do want to know more about how they work. Your article could help me, I think. But this statement already puts me off: what is a bus? I just can't picture what that's supposed to mean. Sorry if that's a stupid question. Maybe the article is just not for me and I need some primer first.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-100_bus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_(computing)
It’s a physical data highway that allows devices to communicate with each other.
Early routers were ‘normal’ computers with lots of network cards plugged into a bus. Data arrived on one card, and was routed to another by the operating system.
Your home router is still a computer, but miniaturises everything to a much simpler circuit board with the network connectors directly soldered on.
PCI, AGP, ISA, IDE are busses.
PCI express, USB, SATA are not busses but rather point-to-point protocols.
"Early computer buses were parallel electrical wires with multiple hardware connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same logical function as a parallel electrical bus. Modern computer buses can use both parallel and bit serial connections, and can be wired in either a multidrop (electrical parallel) or daisy chain topology, or connected by switched hubs, as in the case of USB. "
(The B in USB stands for Bus)
Great article, thanks for taking the time to put it together. Hope to find more articles like this from you in the near future :)