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Mon, 15 Mar 1999 12:49:48 -0800 |
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On 15 Mar 99, at 6:51, Michael Beechey wrote:
> I'm putting together a small network, for classroom use, no essential
> data transfer, maximum distance to hub 5 meters ( about 15 feet),
> using cheap NE2000 clone cards, 15 machine max.
>
> My question is whether in the above situation there would be a great
> difference between using the RJ-245 10Base-T connection and cabling,
> and the BNC 10Base2 port. Do cheap hubs have both connections? Can I
> combine cable types?
Cheap hubs generally offer only RJ-45 ports.
Recall that a hub imposes a "star" physical topology on Ethernet's
logical "bus" topology. 10Base2 is a physical bus, so the hubs that
provide any 10Base2 connectors provide only one -- allowing you to
connect a 10Base2 bus into an otherwise 10BaseT star. [I recently
picked up one of these on sale for $35 -- I want to migrate my central
machines to 10BaseT, but won't be replacing the longest co-ax runs for
some time. I think "D-Link" was the manufacturer.]
In my experience, 10BaseT is easier to work with than 10Base2. Cable
problems rarely affect more than a single machine, and are easily
remedied -- co-ax cable problems will take out the entire segment.
For classroom use, I would definitely go 10BaseT. You may find that
two "cascaded" 8-port hubs are cheaper than a single one with 16 ports.
David G
PCBUILD maintains many useful files for download
on our web site - visit our download page at:
http://nospin.com/pc/files.html
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