Date   : Fri, 29 Jul 2005 20:21:26 +0100
From   : Phil Blundell <philb@...>
Subject: Re: Econet-Ethernet bridge

On Fri, 2005-07-29 at 20:03 +0100, Chris Johns wrote:
> > I just don't know, but if so, it would be prety clever taken the
> > possible speed differences between the nets in mind. It's just not getting
> > away with your own exitements, and trying to keep away from (possible)
> > useless wishful thinking! :-)
> 
> Don't bridges flag fill the other network to the one they are dealing
> with? So it would read in a buffer full from A, while flag filling B,
> then send that to B, while flag filling A. This way the speed difference
> wouldn't be an issue (it would run at half the speed of the slowest
> network).

Yes, but you can't start doing flag fill in the middle of a frame.  Once
the sending station starts transmitting the data, the bridge doesn't
have any opportunity to throttle that flow.  If it can't unload the data
on the other network quickly enough, and it doesn't have enough space to
buffer the packet, it will have to drop it on the floor. 

p.