If you do not have a master, you have need for some CSMA-like protocol.

Check this for a start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALOH...A_protocol

That should give you a starting point for a possible protocol. The full ethernet standard can be downloaded from the IEEE. ( http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/ ).

the above will give answers to your questions 1 and 2.

For question 3: it all depends, there are numerous auto-discovery mechanisms around in networking.

I am not saying you ought to re-develop ethernet or alohanet but the docs will give some hints towards possible solutions and the problems you may encounter in this field.

regards


regards

patrick