djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (10/26/89)
Those who take from the net should return in kind, and so I'm excerpting
from three of the overnight replies I received to the query I posted
yesterday about Ethernet cards with dual connectors or capabilities.
If, like me, you need Ethernet cards but just aren't sure what the
eventual wiring scheme will be, the following is very useful info.
Thanks to all respondents, including those whose mail hasn't arrived here yet!
*******************************************************************
From: glen@aecom.yu.edu (Glen M. Marianko)
There are two vendors that come to immediate mind that have both
a DIX(AUI) connector and a UTP (Synoptics compatible) connector:
they are the Interlan NI5210 and the Western Digital Ethercard.
My company (Glasgal) carrys both (we're a distributor). If you
need a source, we can help.
-- Glen M. Marianko Manager, LAN Services Glasgal Communications, Inc.
151 Veterans Drive Northvale, New Jersey 07647 201-768-8082
glen@aecom.yu.edu - {uunet}!aecom!glen (Courtesy of AECOM & unaffiliated)
********************************************************************
From: heath@shumv1.ncsu.edu (Heath Roberts)
I haven't heard of any 16-bit (or 8-bit) ethernet cards with connections
for twisted pair wiring... you get what's called a balun (it's a
transformer), which has a BNC on one side and terminals for twisted pair
on the other side. Inmac has the baluns (as do most mail-order companies).
16-bit cards should be available from whoever your state-contract
computer reseller is... (you can use 8-bit cards with an AT, but 16-bit
is faster)
Heath Roberts,
person extraordinaire
heath@shumv1.ncsu.edu
**********************************************************************
From: Bob Currier - DCAC Network Comm. Specialist <currier@cs.duke.edu>
.... I just finished installing several twisted pair nodes on our
building network. You don't find NICs with twisted pair adapters on them,
to the best of knowledge. That would be too limiting. What you will find
will be an ethernet card with a BNC and an AUI (or DIX, as it is sometimes
called) connector on it. You will need to use the AUI connector, an AUI
drop cable, and a twisted pair transceiver, such as the TPT-2 from Cabletron.
Guess which one I use? :-) :-) By using the card with an AUI connector,
you can change media types simply by swapping transceivers. To go to fiber,
just hook up a fiber xvr. To use thick wire, ditto. Or go to a multiport
xvr. I would reccomend the 3Com 3C503 for the PC bus machines, and the 3C523
for any PS/2s you may have. A note of warning. The distance limit on
TP is 485 feet. Punch blocks in the middle of your run will cut down on
the max distance you can travel.
Does it work? This letter is being written on my new Sun 3/80, connected
to a Cabletron TPT-2, running into a Cabletron TP repeater, AUI cable to a
Cabletron MMAC-8, to a Cabletron Fiber xvr, over a fiber backbone net and
out to the world. It works.
Good luck,
Bob Currier
NOTE: PLEASE REPLY TO rdc@bobsun.ac.duke.edu, NOT TO THIS MAIL ADDRESS.
I don't have a news feed to my Sun yet, so read news on this box, but don't
log on that often.
**************************************************************************
"Moby" Dick O'Connor ** DISCLAIMER: It would
Washington Department of Fisheries ** surprise me if the
Olympia, Washington 98504 ** rest of the Department
Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.u.washington.edu ** agreed with any of this!