What is Ethernet, Local Talk, Token Ring, FDDI, ATM?

Ethernet
Ethernet is a physical and data link layer technology for local area networks (LANs). Ethernet was invented by engineer Robert Metcalfe.
It uses wires (meaning it is not a wireless technology).
The wires used for a LAN are mostly those headed by an RJ-45 jack, which is similar to the jack plugged into your telephone set, but twice as big. Some Ethernet networks use coaxial cables, but that’s rarer, and present in rather large LANs, which span over areas between buildings. Ethernet is by far the most popular LAN protocol used today. It is so popular that if you buy a network card to install on your machine, you will get an Ethernet card, unless you ask for something different, if of course that different protocol is available.
Ethernet has evolved over the years. Today, you can get cheap Ethernet LAN cards with speeds up to 100 Mbps; while the fastest Ethernet reaches Gbps (1 Gbps = 1000 Mbps) in speed.
When first widely deployed in the 1980s, Ethernet supported a maximum theoretical data rate of 10 megabits per second (Mbps). Later, Fast Ethernet standards increased this maximum data rate to 100 Mbps. Today, Gigabit Ethernet technology further extends peak performance up to 1000 Mbps.
Higher level network protocols like Internet Protocol (IP) use Ethernet as their transmission medium. Data travels over Ethernet inside protocol units called frames.
The run length of individual Ethernet cables is limited to roughly 100 meters, but Ethernet can be easily extended to link entire schools or office buildings using network bridge devices.

Local Talk
When the folks at Apple decided to add networking to their computers, they created a unique networking technology called Local Talk. Local Talk used a bus topology with each device daisy-Chained to the next on the segment, and proprietary cabling with small round DIN-style connectors. The rise of Ethernet, along with Local Talk’s very slow speed, led to the demise of Local Talk.

Token Ring
A Token Ring network is a local area network (LAN) in which all computers are connected in a ring or star topology and a bit- or token-passing scheme is used in order to prevent the collision of data between two computers that want to send messages at the same time. The Token Ring protocol is the second most widely-used protocol on local area networks after Ethernet. The IBM Token Ring protocol led to a standard version, specified as IEEE 802.5. Both protocols are used and are very similar. The IEEE 802.5 Token Ring technology provides for data transfer rates of either 4 or 16 megabits per second. Very briefly, here is how it works:
Empty information frames are continuously circulated on the ring.
When a computer has a message to send, it inserts a token in an empty frame (this may consist of simply changing a 0 to a 1 in the token bit part of the frame) and inserts a message and a destination identifier in the frame.
The frame is then examined by each successive workstation. If the workstation sees that it is the destination for the message, it copies the message from the frame and changes the token back to 0.
When the frame gets back to the originator, it sees that the token has been changed to 0 and that the message has been copied and received. It removes the message from the frame.
The frame continues to circulate as an "empty" frame, ready to be taken by a workstation when it has a message to send.
The token scheme can also be used with bus topology LANs.
The standard for the Token Ring protocol is Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.5. The Fiber Distributed-Data Interface (FDDI) also uses a Token Ring protocol.

FDDI
FDDI stands for Fiber Distributed Data Interface. The FDDI standard is ANSI X3T9.5 . The FDDI topology is ring with two counter rotating rings for reliability with no hubs. Cable type is fiber-optic. Connectors are specialized. The media access method is token passing. Multiple tokens may be used by the system. The maximum length is 100 kilometers. The maximum number of nodes on the network is 500. Speed is 100 Mbps. FDDI is normally used as a backbone to link other networks. A typical FDDI network can include servers, concentrators, and links to other networks.
FDDI token passing allows multiple frames to circulate around the ring at the same time. Priority levels of a data frame and token can be set to allow servers to send more data frames. Time sensitive data may also be given higher priority. The second ring in a FDDI network is a method of adjusting when there are breaks in the cable. The primary ring is normally used, but if the nearest downstream neighbor stops responding the data is sent on the secondary ring in attempt to reach the computer. Therefore a break in the cable will result in the secondary ring being used. There are two network cards which are:
Dual attachment stations (DAS) used for servers and concentrators are attached to both rings.
Single Attachment stations (SAS) attached to one ring and used to attach workstations to concentrators.
A router or switch can link an FDDI network to a local area network (LAN). Normally FDDI is used to link LANs together since it covers long distances.

ATM
ATM is a high-speed networking standard designed to support both voice and data communications. ATM is normally utilized by Internet service providers on their private long-distance networks. ATM operates at the data link layer (Layer 2 in the OSI model) over either fiber or twisted-pair cable.
The performance of ATM is often expressed in the form of OC (Optical Carrier) levels, written as "OC-xxx." Performance levels as high as 10 Gbps (OC-192) are technically feasible with ATM. More common performance levels for ATM are 155 Mbps (OC-3) and 622 Mbps (OC-12).
ATM technology is designed to improve utilization and quality of service (QoS) on high-traffic networks. Without routing and with fixed-size cells, networks can much more easily manage bandwidth under ATM than under Ethernet, for example. The high cost of ATM relative to Ethernet is one factor that has limited its adoption to "backbone" and other high-performance, specialized networks.

References:
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/ethernet1/g/bldef_ethernet.htm
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/networkprotocols/g/bldef_atm.htm
http://www.comptechdoc.org/independent/networking/cert/netfddi.html