At 04:44 PM 10/28/98 -0600, you wrote:
>UTP cat 5 cabling for
>the 10baseT systems is very easy to work with as well but the cost of hubs
>generally kicks that in the butt. While I have a crimper for just about
any coaxial
>(twinax, BNC, etc) as well as modular connector (RJ11 to RJ45) I prefer to
get
>ready made cabling where it will work. Obviously if you're running coax or
cat 5
>cables through conduit to wall plates and all you will have to crimp at
least one
>end on but generally most people with home or small business networks
don't sweat
>this at all and leave it exposed.
[snip]
Personally, I prefer Cat5 over coax mainly because I'm part owner of an
ISP/Computer store and we invested in a high-dollar Cat5 crimping tool.
When I build my house next year, every room will have (at least) 1 cat5
jack... why? Because I also have a top-notch punchdown tool... but I didn't
pay much for it. Got it at a garage sale... for 20 cents! (Lady of the
house had the sale... Man of the house worked for the phone company...)
Now, if you're talking _Distance_... ethernet is not the way to go. I have
no idea how far Token Ring can run, but I believe the standard for 2.5
Megabit ArcNet is 1 kilometer between active hubs... and coax. That's what
I'm going to hook up the garage and rental home with. (And yes, my Arcnet
equipment is over 10 years old...)
Besides, I surely trust coax over Cat5 for less-than-pristine conditions
(like outdoor, and in Upper Michigan, that counts!).
Just MHO,
"Merch"
As for the damage factor, every setup is differet
>and the ways to protect it are generally the job of the installer, just
like it is
>when installing phone wiring. Cable ties, clips, etc are all available to
neatly
>bundle the finished setup and keep the cabling out of harm's way. If you
do get a
>bad end just repair it whether it's twinax, coax, cat 5, twisted pair,
etc. My
>biggest pain is in installing those :"IBM Data" type connectors on the end
of 4
>wire ethernet data cabling. It should be easy but dependant upon the gauge
of the
>internal conductors, you may have a bit of a time making the insulation
>displacement contacts accept the wires without breaking them.
>
>Summary: Use what works best for you and your project. If you want to be a
biog
>burly hairy guy and make every one of your own connections, then do it.
Otherwise
>get factory done ones, just as cheap in many cases.
>
>Now if someone could make twinaxial connectors as easy to assemble as
others we'd
>be set on S/34-38 and AS/400 systems!
>
>Sam Ismail wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 28 Oct 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
>>
>> > The Coax is no harder to install than twisted pair. It's no more likely
>> > to be stepped on and there are proper wallplates etc if you're worried
>> > about it getting pulled. And I find the strain relief on the BNC to be a
>> > lot better than that on an RJ45.
>>
>> I don't. Its far easier for a coax to get pulled out of the BNC connector
>> than it is for a twisted-pair cable to be pulled out of an RJ-45.
>>
>> > Hmm.. Fitting a plug on a piece of twisted pair behind a machine rack is
>> > not fun. 8 wires to get into the right channels, brown and orange colours
>> > to tell apart, no thank you.
>> >
>> > The BNC was _designed_ to be trivial to fit, actually. The best way to do
>> > it is to use a solder type plug and ignore the instructions :-). Then :
>> >
>> > Put the nut and rubber washer over the cable. Remove about 3/4" of the
>> > outer covering. Fan out the braid, put the T-shapped ferrule over the
>> > inner insulator and push it down inside the braid. Trim off the braid
>> > around the outside of the ferrule, cut the inner insulation (but not the
>> > inner wire) flush with the end of the ferrule (use a sharp knife for
>> > this), pull off the inner insulation, tin the centre wire. Put on the
>> > little disk insulator, cut the inner wire a couple of mm beyond that, put
>> > the pin on, solder in place. Put the outer insulator and plug body on the
>> > end of that, slide up the nut/washer and tighten it all up.
>>
>> So you're saying its easier to work with a soldering iron, solder, a pair
>> of dykes, a knife and a 3-piece BNC connector behind a machine rack, as
>> opposed to a one-piece RJ-45 that requires one tool to cut, strip and
>> crimp? Wow. You ARE a glutton for punishment.
>>
>> > It took longer to type that than it does to do it.
>>
>> I can crimp a BNC connector in a few seconds with the right tool, and I
>> don't bother with the soldering. Crimping seems to do the trick quite
>> nicely.
>>
>> > A couple of tips. Get the right cable and plugs. There are several sizes
>> > of BNC plug (not just 50 Ohm and 75 OHm - acutally different sizes of
>> > ferrule, etc) to fit different cables. A lot of hassles start when you
>> > use the wrong plug. Also get a couple of the special flat spanners for
>> > tightening up the plugs. A lot easier than trying to use pliers.
>>
>> And don't use any cable other than RG-58A/U or RG-58C/U for thinnet. If
>> you use anything else (i.e. straight RG-58) you're going to start running
>> into trouble if you begin to add nodes or have long distances in between
>> nodes.
>>
>> > Anyway, with 10 base T, there may be a dozen cable coming out from the
>> > room where the bub is to other machines in the house. With 10 base 2,
>> > there's normally only one coax cable.
>>
>> Like I said, as long as you are connecting computers that are within a few
>> feet of each other then coax is a good choice.
>>
>> > > around corners, over door frames, etc. And 4-port hubs can be had for
>> > > less than $50 these days. A worthwhile investment for having a more
>> >
>> > _4_ port hubs??? Surely you jest :-). Us workstation types have 4
>> > machines per desk with ethernet ports :-).
>>
>> Ok, an 8- or even 16-port hub can be had for around $100 or less.
>>
>> > Since when have any _classic_ computers had 100Mbps network ports? Heck,
>> > I'm looking out for any original 3Mbps stuff :-)
>> >
>> > Which reminds me. 10 base 2 is on-topic here (over 10 years old). I am
>> > not so sure about 10 base T
>> >
>> > > Of course, this assumes your machine can use 100baseT. Old machines
like
>> > > your PERQs and PDP11's would be quite happy with 10baseT.
>> > >
>> >
>> > I thought this was classiccmp....
>>
>> Well, ten years from now you'll regret using coax when you want to plug
>> that Pentium II with a PCI 100baseT ethernet card onto your network :)
>>
>> Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar_at_siconic.com
>>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>> Ever onward.
>>
>> Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
>> See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
>> [Last web site update: 09/21/98]
>
>
>
Received on Wed Oct 28 1998 - 17:06:29 GMT