The basic AppleTalk hardware was built into every Mac computer so networks could be established without any prior setup or need for a centralized router or server. Apple Talk networks could also be connected to each other, forming internets, or use a variety of physical media like Ethernet, Token Ring or Appleβs own LocalTalk.
AppleTalk was ultimately displaced by TCP/IP-based systems, but for most of the 1980s and β90s was Apple's main networking technology.
@TheNewsOwl My first computer was the Apple IIe. Print Shop with our dot matrix printer and a game that used just two arrow buttons and the space bar.