[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] streams based tcpip vs character based tcpip

mja@TWG.COM (Mike Anello) (06/10/88)

>Mike - Being unwilling to show my ignorance to the whole tcp-ip list,
>I will ask you: what is the difference between streams vs character ?
>Does it have to do with System V vs 4.3 bsd ?  Regards - Craig

The difference is that streams based tcpip is built with stream drivers and
modules where character based tcpip is built with UNIX V or BSD character device
drivers. Two different technologies.

Mike

philipp@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (Philip A. Prindeville) (06/13/88)

	The difference is that streams based tcpip is built with stream drivers
	and modules where character based tcpip is built with UNIX V or BSD
	character device drivers. Two different technologies.

Actually, BSD doesn't use character device drivers in the traditional
sense.  They use a different approach, with a network interface which
provides a dispatch table (somewhat like the character or block
device interface).

As I remember, the networking code for Version 6 UNIX did the standard
device model, but I forget the details.  (Their might be an RFC on it.)

-Philip