this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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I'm really confused by the number of people here that are conflating Ethernet as a protocol and the physical medium it runs over. Coxial, fiber, and twisted pairs, can all carry different protocols. None of them are as ubiquitous in the home as Ethernet. Alternative network technologies are usually specific purpose, like fibre channel for storage, or infiniband for low latency, or 5G for wireless telecommunications.
It's a very long lived protocol and it's a testament to its lightweight and flexible nature. Ethernet really is a framework for higher level protocols where increasing change happens. IP addresses? Not Ethernet, that's all Internet protocol. It's more reminiscent of when electricity in the home was becoming common place. Before standardisation there was all kinds of chaos with different sockets, voltage, AC vs. DC etc. Although arguably that's a less settled debate with suppliers and home users often preferring different standards.
I was having a discussion about this with a colleague at work about the so-called "HDMI over Ethernet" and how it's a misnomer. As you said, Ethernet is a protocol, not a physical medium. I know a lot of people refer to the cable as "Ethernet cable" but the HDMI signal is being sent over CAT6 cables. There's no encapsulation into Ethernet frames being done.
Didn't he say that it's a framework for protocols, not a protocol? Or am I parsing the comment incorrectly?
Eh, it's both. Ethernet is layer 2. It is your MAC address, more or less. There's some functionality to it beyond simple hardware addressing, but it provides a scaffold for other, higher layer protocols to operate on top of.
So ethernet, in and of itself is a protocol, and it also provides a framework for other protocols like IP.
Ah, that makes sense, thanks!