old modems & a packet switcher

From: Frank McConnell <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
Date: Mon Aug 3 11:54:24 1998

William Donzelli <william_at_ans.net> wrote:
> I am not sure why classic networking stuff tends to be shunned like a
> rabid dog. Stuff from the 1970s is quite rare, but 1980s era stuff (CSUs,
> switches, etc.) tends to be around, and now quite available, now that T1s
> are becoming turtle highways.

Some thoughts:

With many of these devices, it takes (at least) two to tango, and of
course you never find both together. (What is the sound of one statmux
clapping?)

Synchronous modems often didn't just carry the data from one end to
the other, they also provided clock signals to the DTEs. Many DTEs
expect to see those clock signals and won't originate them, so getting
two nearby ones to talk over direct cabling can be an interesting
proposition.

Some of us probably worked with this stuff back in the days when it
was new (1983-1989 in my case). "Fun" is not the adjective that comes
to my mind.

> How about running a T1 line between the
> house and garage? With appropriate routing, its performance can be quite
> suprising.

Can you do this over dry copper, for short runs?

If so, would you want to? You mentioned in another post that you'd
have to run conduit for FDDI, and that makes me think there might be
some open space between hither and yon. Sure, you could run copper,
but wouldn't electrical potential differences be a problem?

I know that we used to have a fiber run under the parking lot at the
office, and Ethernet-fiber bridge things at the ends (two buildings
w/parking lot between).

> Does anyone on this list have any classic networking stuff beyond
> ethernet/token thing cards?

Not a lot, and mostly not by intent. Recently I got an HP9000/220U
with some extra boxes that I believe are a CSU and some flavor of mux.
No, it's not at all clear to me why they were piled together into one
lot; the 9000 didn't have the right sorts of I/O for this.

-Frank McConnell
Received on Mon Aug 03 1998 - 11:54:24 BST