<networking> /bit'net/ (Because It's Time NETwork) An academic
and research computer network connecting approximately 2500
computers. BITNET provides interactive, electronic mail and
file transfer services, using a store and forward
protocol, based on IBM Network Job Entry protocols.
Bitnet-II encapsulates the Bitnet protocol within IP
packets and depends on the Internet to route them. BITNET
traffic and Internet traffic are exchanged via several
gateway hosts.
BITNET is now operated by CREN.
BITNET is everybody's least favourite piece of the network.
The BITNET hosts are a collection of IBM dinosaurs,
VAXen (with lobotomised communications hardware), and Prime
Computer supermini computers. They communicate using
80-character EBCDIC card images (see eighty-column mind);
thus, they tend to mangle the headers and text of
third-party traffic from the rest of the ASCII/RFC 822
world with annoying regularity. BITNET is also notorious as
the apparent home of BIFF.
[Jargon File]
(2002-09-02)
Nearby terms:
bitmap font « bitmapped display « bit mask « BITNET » bitonal image » bit-paired keyboard » bit pattern
