A Ring
Messages zip along a circle in one direction until they reach the right computer. If the ring’s broken, the network crashes.
Also, distance may be limited to less than a few hundred feet without costly repeaters. With the right equipment and enough money, however, you can go much farther.
One beauty of a ring arrangement is that in small networks the speeds can be very fast. Larger networks slow it down.
A ring network often uses token passing. Think of the children’s game where, when you’re caught with a ball or other object, you’re “it.” The kids try not to be.[[80]]
In token passing, though, the computers don’t[don’t] mind being “it” at all. Getting the “ball” means they have the okay to send to another machine through the ring.
If you as a computer get the ball, you get the privilege of replacing it with the message you want to send. You “hold” the ball until the message you’ve sent comes back to you through the ring. Then you send the ball on its way to the next computer. The whole process, of course, is almost instantaneous.
Some people say it may be easier to design software for a ring, since the token passing means there’s no chance of signals colliding.
Radio Shack’s Arcnet uses token passing.
You also may end up grappling with different wiring styles.