jalsop@seachg.uucp (John Alsop) (10/17/90)
We have a client with a small existing thin-net TCP/IP network. He wishes to connect some existing PC's in another part of the company to this network. The PC's (up to 20 of them) are scattered in individual offices, so there is a strong preference for a solution using twisted pair wiring. I see the components required as being: - a twisted-pair compatible ethernet card for each PC - a TCP/IP software package for each PC, capable of telnet/ftp, and ideally rlogin/rcp to a unix host - a multi-port twisted-pair to thin-net converter My question is: what is the most cost-effective combination of components to achieve the above. Comments from people who have done something like this would be greatly appreciated, as would input from various vendors. I will be glad to post a summary of replies received. Thanks in advance, -- John Alsop Sea Change Corporation 6695 Millcreek Drive, Unit 8 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5N 5R8 ....!uunet!attcan!seachg!jalsop
haas%basset.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Walt Haas) (10/17/90)
In article <1990Oct16.212015.11791@seachg.uucp> jalsop@seachg.UUCP (John Alsop) writes: >We have a client with a small existing thin-net TCP/IP network. He wishes >to connect some existing PC's in another part of the company to this >network. > >The PC's (up to 20 of them) are scattered in individual offices, so there >is a strong preference for a solution using twisted pair wiring. We do exactly this with the Western Digital 10BASE-T card and the Hughes LAN Systems multi-protocol stack. It supports all the usual TCP/IP protocols and LAT and Novell too. For a 10BASE-T hub we have been buying the AT&T Starlan-10 product but anything that conforms to the standard should work. We interface to thinnet by hanging a thinnet transceiver off the AUI plug of the Starlan hub. -- Walt Haas haas@ski.utah.edu
brianr@hprnd.rose.hp.com (Brian Ripley) (10/21/90)
HP's 10-Base-T offering, EtherTwist, includes a 12 port hub that has a builtin thin net port in addition to an AUI port. This will save you the cost of a MAU. If the PC's you are connecting already have LAN cards with an AUI port you should consider using 10-Base-T MAUs to connect them to the twisted-pair.
nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) (10/22/90)
In article <1990Oct16.212015.11791@seachg.uucp> jalsop@seachg.uucp (John Alsop) writes:
I see the components required as being:
- a twisted-pair compatible ethernet card for each PC
I can't speak to cost-effectiveness, but I know that at least AT&T,
HP, Cabletron, D-Link, 3Com, and Racal Interlan have 10Base-T Ethernet
cards. There are certainly others, but I cannot recall them at the
moment.
- a TCP/IP software package for each PC, capable of telnet/ftp,
and ideally rlogin/rcp to a unix host
I recommend CUTCP and the Clarkson packet drivers, available by FTP
and by mail from archive-server@sun.soe.clarkson.edu:pub/cutcp
and pub/packet-drivers.
- a multi-port twisted-pair to thin-net converter
I don't know much about these. I know that AT&T has a single port TP
to TN converter, and that HP has a TP hub with AUI and TN connectors.
--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) Russ.Nelson@$315.268.6667
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