RFC 429

Character Generator Process 🎀

okay bestie, it's RFC 429 and it's a whole vibe 💖

Jonathan B. Postel (UCLA-NMC) wrote this one 🌸. It's NWG/RFC #429, NIC #13281, dated 12-DEC-72. It was published by the ARPA Network Information Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California 94025 ✨. The original doesn't say what category it is, and it doesn't list anything it obsoletes or updates, so there's nothing to report there 🙈.

So the big idea 💅: Jonathan wants a standard process that any host can run if it wants to. This process generates character data without any regard to input. Lowkey it's the opposite of the discard process [RFC 348] 🦋. Plenty of hosts already have a terminal testing program, like TTYTST, that would do this job just fine 🧚.

The Character Generator process listens for a request for a connection, then runs the Initial Connection Protocol (ICP) from NIC 7104, the "Current Network Protocols" notebook 📓. Once the ICP is done, it starts sending characters into the network as buffer space gets freed up 🌈. It stops when the connections get closed 💀.

That's the whole RFC, and honestly? Iconic 👑🔥.

       [ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
       [ into the online RFC archives by BBN Corp. under the   ]
       [ direction of Alex McKenzie.                      1/97 ]