I thought I had a similar problem with my Powermac, then though it was the
AUI ethernet transciever - Nope (even though my cable tester said I had a
good crimp with proper 1-1/2-2/3-3/etc connection) - it was a weak
connection and once I cut and re-ended the drop for the PowerMac life came
into the machine on the network and once "Dave" was installed it started
chatting with all of it's Windows peers and the NT server, as well as my
printers. The nice thing is that even though the transciever is 10baseT,
data flows through it fast, thanks to the 2 8 port Skylink switches. When I
had an autoswitch IBM 10/100 hub, the 10baseT equipment dragged it's ass,
now I see very little difference in the 10baseT and 100baseT devices.
I'm perfectly able to write CD's through the network on my PII-300 machine
with a 16x writer, from even my old Dell 4066/XE 486DX2-66 based server
(used for a while as a proxy server). Even SCSI DAT tape goes well, almost
as fast as if the tape was diectly on the SCSI chain of that machine it's
drawing files from.
I've given away old SMC, IBM and other 10baseT hubs to experimenters just to
get them out of my way after I got the 10/100 switches, and I won't install
anything less than that as a customer replacement. When a 16 port switch is
$75 new retail, why buy a used 10baseT hub for $10 or $15? Even if a machine
HAS to go onto 10base2 coax, there are ways to convert with baluns or
transcievers - or even uplink an old coupl-of-port hub with BNC to that
particular segment. My Netserver has 2 10/100 nics, I had a 10base2 coax
segment on an old hub from card 2, my 10/100 switches and all the UTP
connected equipment on card 1. Worked well until I found a replacement MCA
NIC (olicom) for my old IBM 9595 server (now out of service).
=> -----Original Message-----
=> From: owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
=> [mailto:owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Jeff Hellige
=> Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2002 8:56 AM
=> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
=> Subject: Re: Network Hub selection help needed
=>
=>
=> >Go for autosensing 10/100baseT. If you're going to spend any amount of
=> >money, you want to protect your investment by including
=> 100baseT capability
=> >even if you don't need it right now.
=> >
=> >If you see a decent modern 3Com hub or switch, that's fine but
=> most of the
=> >second-hand stuff I've seen is 10baseT only. I wouldn't bother
=> looking for
=> >IBM. Baystack, 3Com, HP, Cisco are the ones you're likely to see. And
=> >Netgear, which is almost entirely unmanaged kit, but quite good quality.
=>
=> I use a Netgear DS108 dual-speed, 8port hub and really like
=> it. It's small and does it's job well. My only complaint with it is
=> that it doesn't pick up on some 10baseT cards, such as an Asente PDS
=> NIC that is in my Color Classic. My other Mac's, NeXTs, and various
=> other machines work fine with it though.
=>
=> Jeff
=> --
=> Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
=>
http://www.cchaven.com
=>
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
=>
=>
Received on Sun Apr 21 2002 - 10:20:54 BST