I think those were later goals slug wanted to address. I guess that the busy routers could have additional buffers (or 1 for each direction) and/or processing multiple packets at once. It is not impossible, it just requires a lot of timing and planning.
My take on it:
- 1 input buffer NESW shared, 1 output. so 1:1. Can only handle 1 connection well without dropping packets.
- >= 2 input buffers NESW shared, 1 proces. so 2:1 Can handle more connections at once without dropping packets.
- 4 directional input buffers, 1 proces. 4:1. Same as above but a bit easier to make i guess
- 4 directional input buffers, 4 processes so 4:4. pretty much a router on steroids. Each direction can handle its own address calculation but this does require many decoders, a 4:4 crossbar and cooldown clocks.
As it is right now, the routers can only handle 1 connection and collision detection is pretty poor. Long way to go still
My take on it:
- 1 input buffer NESW shared, 1 output. so 1:1. Can only handle 1 connection well without dropping packets.
- >= 2 input buffers NESW shared, 1 proces. so 2:1 Can handle more connections at once without dropping packets.
- 4 directional input buffers, 1 proces. 4:1. Same as above but a bit easier to make i guess
- 4 directional input buffers, 4 processes so 4:4. pretty much a router on steroids. Each direction can handle its own address calculation but this does require many decoders, a 4:4 crossbar and cooldown clocks.
As it is right now, the routers can only handle 1 connection and collision detection is pretty poor. Long way to go still
Don't thank me, thank my coffee machine