art@dinorah.wustl.edu (Arthur B. Smith) (01/25/91)
Oh, help!
We are moving a bunch of networked computers out to a new site
which doesn't have an existing network, and are looking at ways to do
that. Right now we have all of our devices hanging off of a DELNI
which is connected (actually via another DELNI) to the local baseband
network. Our easy and immediate solution is to just run the DELNI in
stand-alone mode. Unfortunately, we know that we will soon have more
than eight devices to hang on the net, so we need to look at how to
expand it. There are lots of alternatives (a DESPR off one of the 8
host ports on the DELNI and thinwire off the DESPR, another DELNI off
the one DELNI (with appropriate SQE considerations), a DESTA off the
transceiver port of the DELNI connected to thinwire (that is allowed,
isn't it?), a regular baseband with some computers and the DELNI
hanging off of it (we have three baseband transceivers already)...),
but the cheapest one seems to involve the following:
Connect the DELNI to a length of baseband (thick wire) cable using
a standard "non-intrusive" transceiver, and connect the baseband to
thinwire using a "Thin-to-Thick Adapter" (available from INMAC, among
others), which appears to be nothing more than a connector, and then
hanging other machines off the thinwire or baseband segments of the
net.
Has anyone used one of these adapters? (Note: this is an end to
end connector, not a DESTA-by-any-other-name! It can't be very
complicated since it only costs $14 in single unit quantities!) Do
they work? What are the cable length limitations on this combined
net? I assume that since there is no "active" component, that the
total length can be no more than shorter of the two total lengths of
the components (i.e., the thinwire limit of 185 m), but is it even
shorter than that because of signal degradation across the adapter?
Any input is welcome!
Please respond by e-mail, since I don't normally read this group.
If there is additional interest I will respond by e-mail or summarize
to this group. Mail can be sent to:
art@dinorah.wustl.edu or ...!uunet!wugate.wustl.edu!dinorah!art
Thanks in advance!
art smith