It didn’t run http based through a browser. It was through what they called a ddp (datagram delivery protocol) called Apple Talk (similar to the old Local Talk). That’s why in the other post I mentioned the word ‘website’ may be throwing folks off.. it was more of a ‘networked presence’.
It didn’t run http based through a browser. It was through what they called a ddp (datagram delivery protocol) called Apple Talk (similar to the old Local Talk). That’s why in the other post I mentioned the word ‘website’ may be throwing folks off.. it was more of a ‘networked presence’.
Well, the Internet is TCP/IP and AppleTalk and/or LocalTalk does not run on TCP/IP. However, it has been made to be "tunneled" through TCP/IP. But, Apple has given up on AppleTalk and it's no longer supported. In any case, it was only for "LANs" and not for WANs (like the Internet and TCP/IP).
A person was never able to get AppleTalk outside of a LAN; it was limited to that (namely, just your own limited number of computers in a LAN and/or a combination of several LANs joined together in a building). You could never reach Apple by way of the protocol -- AppleTalk. It never happened, at any time.
Apple did set up the forerunner for AOL, though, which was another matter altogether... :-)
They would have had to tunnel Appletalk through TCP/IP for that to work.
Localtalk is another physical layer for AppleTalk. The protocol is the same, the difference is that localtalk runs on a single unshielded twisted pair (telephone wire) whereas AppleTalk required special shielded twisted pair cable.
There was a lot of this outdated garbage still around when I was in school in the mid 90s, so I know more about it than I care to.
correction:
Localtalk uses proprietary shielded twisted pair cables.
Phonenet uses a single unshielded twisted pair (standard telephone cable).
Both are physical layers for AppleTalk, which can also run on more modern networking hardware such as Ethernet.
The advantage to Localtalk and Phonenet is that it was very cheap to add these to the Apples of the time (you needed only an adapter box which I believe was under $50 at the time), wheras Ethernet was more expensive (probably around $150).
The disadavantage to Localtalk and Phonenet is that they are dog slow at 230.4kbps (which is double the maximum PC serial port speed of 115.2kbps).