worked similar to Unix permissions without the group field. Files could be set to be readable and/or writable by everyone, just by the user, or both. Subnetting – A basic Econet would be a single network segment, which is usually assumed to be network 0. With the use of one or more bridges, it is possible to have up to 127 Econet segments with up to 254 hosts each, for a maximum of 32,258 possible machines. Broadcasting – By using host 255, an Econet host could send broadcast packets to all hosts on the network segment. Later implementations of the client software used this to automatically locate file and printer servers. Printer Spooling – Later versions of the Econet printer server software used printer spooling to locally cache print jobs before sending to the remote printer. This ensured whole print jobs were sent to the printer in one go. Ports – Because the various protocols (file and printer servers, bridge discovery, and so forth) used defined port numbers, it was possible to for additional services such as BroadcastLoader, AppFS, a teletext server, and a range of chat programs and multiplayer games to coexist within the Econet system. See also LocalTalk List of device bandwidths References External links The Econet Enthusiasts Area Chris' Acorns Econet documentation at 8-bit software RISC OS Programmer's Reference Manuals the latest versions as of May 2014 Acorn Computers Computer buses Local area networks