Researcher Runs IP Network Over Xylophones

joabj writes "Following up on experiments of running Internet Protocol(IP)-based networks with carrier pigeons or bongos, UofC grad student R. Stuart Geiger has demonstrated that it is possible to transmit simple ping requests across two computers using people playing xylophones. Throughput is roughly 1 baud, when the participants don't make any mistakes, or get bored and wander off. The OSI encapsulated model of networking makes this project doable, allowing humans to be inserted at Layer 1, the physical layer. Vint Cerf wasn't kidding when he used to say, 'IP on Everything.'"

Comments

Re:they forgot to add parity notes

[TheRealMindChild]

IP doesn't mean TCP/IP. The TCP half is what does the error control. Therefore, a ping wouldn't have error correction... just "appropriately replied/didn't reply appropriately"

Anyone else think of CE3K

[rossdee]

Speilberg thought of communicating using musical notes 35 years ago

Upcoming Studies

[Anonymous Coward]

Upcoming studies:
Improving Baud: Coffee vs Electroshocks
IP Backbone Implementation Using Michael J. Fox
River Rapids: High-Speed Internet With Riverdancers
Increasing Latency With Rube Goldberg Networks
Replacing LCD Screens With Bored College Students And Etch-a-Sketches
Stone-age Computing: Exploring Completely Inadequate Alternatives To Modern Technology

Here's a better article....

[Dark$ide]

I stopped reading the article because they can't spell "ACSII".

So a quick Google turns up this Black-boxing the User: Internet Protocol over Xylophone Players (IPoXP)

Re:they forgot to add parity notes

[kheldan]

Play major chords. If a note is incorrect then the chord is dissonant and you have an error condition.

Re:only 1 baud?

[msauve]

The baud rate is insignificant of throughput, it's not clear why it was even mentioned, especially in relation to throughput. Each note encodes 4 bits (a hex digit), so although it does run at 1 baud, the system runs at 4 bps.

Your math is way off. With 8 notes, each encodes 3 bits; two notes allow 64 different combinations (not 1.6 million!), or 6 bits.

Somethings smells funny at Vint Cerf's place

[Chainsaw]

"'IP on Everything." Sounds like his office is a really disgusting place.

Re:It needs an acronym!

[arcsimm]

That's a no-go -- the trademark is already registered to Apple's biological weapons division.

Re:UofC?

[catmistake]

In California, we call it UC Berkeley.

i.e. yoo see burr clee, and even that is incorrect, as the town and the school where named after Bishop Berkeley of "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" fame. His name is pronounced BAR clee.

/pedant

Re:That's a Glockenspiel, not a Xylophone.

[rubycodez]

And for those who slept in biology, xylem tissue transports water and dissolved nutrients, in a tree it is the wood. The word comes from the Greek xylon, which means wood. So a xylophone must be wooden.