Hey @Maciej-Staniec great question. When it comes to deterministic media such as Token Ring, this allowed for nodes to pass a special piece of data called a token, this token would be passed from upstream nodes to downstream nodes. Each node would inspect the token to see if it contained data for that node, if not the node would pass the token to the next downstream node, until the token reached the node that the data was intended for. This would guarantee that each node had access to the network and at speed of 4 and 16 Mbps. and eliminated electrical collisions on the network. Ethernet used contention-based media access method allowing the nodes to send information and if collisions happened, then nodes would wait a period of time then retransmit information (CSMA/CD). This allowed for less complex hardware (reduced cost), but not every node is guaranteed access like in Token Ring. In the earliest implementations of Ethernet, Token Ring was more attractive as it provided faster speeds than the 10 Mbps of Ethernet. The fact was that the more nodes you attached to an Ethernet-based network, the greater the electrical collisions, the more re-transmits, causing network congestion. However, when 100 Mbps or Fast Ethernet and intelligent switches started to be implemented, this increased the speeds, reduced the collisions and with a reduction in cost as well. Token Ring fell out of favor as time progressed.
Best Regards,
Wes Bryan
Knowledge is a road to be traveled upon, not a destination to be reached~~
