MIDI 1.0 is 38 years old, I wonder if that is some kind of record for a protocol standard. But, what about the years between with MIDI over USB? Is that fairly called MIDI 1.0 still no matter the transport mechanism?
But RS232 dates back to the 60s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232
> In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232[1] is a standard originally introduced in 1960[2] for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a DTE (data terminal equipment) such as a computer terminal, and a DCE (data circuit-terminating equipment or data communication equipment), such as a modem.
MIDI physical layer is pretty much unique to MIDI and a kind of an ugly, but cheap and reliable (when done correctly), hack.
Edit: technically you can wire RS232 transmitter to MIDI receiver and if both follow the respective specification the Tx should not source enough current to blow the Rx optocoupler. But it will generally not work the other way around because in absence of said optocoupler the relationship of the MIDI signal (which is a current loop referenced to more or less unspecified potential) to receiver ground matters.
One of my very first experiences with coding was communicating with devices over serial with RS232. 25 years later it's mostly usb-adapters and 5v TTL converters instead of the old school (in my day) db9 connectors. But I still use it all the time for hobby projects.
It wouldn't be wrong to say MIDI is protocol running on top of RS232 (of specific config and bitrate)
In fact easiest way to get MIDI IN/OUT is using UART on microcontroller + an optocoupler
There likely are way older protocols in telephone networks.
Yes, but 1974 TCP is completely incompatible with the current TCP. In the original 1974 version of TCP – https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc675 – they hadn't yet split TCP and IP out into the separate protocols. I'm not sure what is the earliest version which is interoperable with contemporary TCP/IPv4 – probably either the 1981 version – https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc793 – or the 1980 version – https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc761
TCP/IP first entered into widespread production use on 1 January 1983, when ARPANET switched over to it from the earlier (incompatible) NCP protocol. The version of it adopted at the start of 1983 had been finalised in 1981/1982. Prior to that, it was only used on a research/experimental basis, which meant that incompatible changes were frequent.
SS7 is newer than TCP