bellows@uiucdcs.cs.uiuc.edu (12/02/86)
Has anyone had experience with AT&T's Starlan network? I was wondering if
this 1Mb/s, twisted pair, CSMA/CD network actually works over phone-grade
wire. I also would like to know how easy it is to get networking hardware and
software (especially for TCP/IP-based systems) and what it all costs. We are
going to have a lot of extra twisted pair running around our campus, and I
think that this system might be able to provide a low-cost and relatively
high-performance way to provide some people with a network. I would appreciate
any information anyone has on this network.
Thanks,
Doug Bellows
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Engineering
UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!bellows
ARPANET: bellows@a.cs.uiuc.edu
CSNET: bellows@uiuc.csnetcolsmith@ihu1e.UUCP (Colsmith) (12/05/86)
> Has anyone had experience with AT&T's Starlan network? I was wondering if > this 1Mb/s, twisted pair, CSMA/CD network actually works over phone-grade > wire. I also would like to know how easy it is to get networking hardware and > software (especially for TCP/IP-based systems) and what it all costs. We are > going to have a lot of extra twisted pair running around our campus, and I > think that this system might be able to provide a low-cost and relatively > high-performance way to provide some people with a network. I would appreciate > any information anyone has on this network. > > Thanks, Doug Bellows Starlan is a capable LAN. It really can run over existing phone wire. Makes for a very attractive layout, no mounds of cable all over, and you can still use the phone, too. If you use this method, you need some technical work in the phone wiring closet. A connection lists about $720 for a PC, that includes both the hardware and software. Slightly higher for a 3B2 or etc. The connecting cable for daisy chaining or connecting to a hub (NEU) is right in the box with the card. It is very thin and looks like ordinary modular-plug phone wire. Note this is different from some (most?) LAN's that need special coax cabling and terminators and all that rot. You can do DOS-DOS, DOS-Unix, or Unix-Unix stuff with it. Either Unix or DOS machines can be used for DOS file servers. On the UNIX side you can do all the usual uucp/mail kind of things. I use it everyday, and although I am probably prejudiced about it, I think it's the right choice! ;-) Customers rave about ease of installation. Easy to put up, easy to use. You only pay for what you need, there is no fixed startup configuration. Marcia Colsmith AT&T Information Systems ihnp4!ihu1e!colsmith (312) 979-0320
steve@teletron.UUCP (Steve Tse) (06/04/87)
Has anyone had experience with AT&T's StarLAN network? I was wondering how good is the performance of this 1 Mb/s, twisted pair, CSMA/CD network in terms of utilization, throughput, latency, end to end delay and capacity. Since the StarLAN using an inverted tree hierarchical star topology, each message sent by a node has to propagate to the HHUB through all the imtermediate levels and back to the node through the same route. Will this cause tremendous of delay and lower the throughput of the system ? Hence IEEE 802.3 designation of type 1BASE5, 1 stands for 1 Mb/s and BASE for baseband. What does 5 stand for? Does it stand for the maximun node-to-node distance 0.5 km ? I also would like to know how easy it is to get networking hardware and software (especially for TCP/IP-based systems) and what it all costs. I would appreciate any information anyone has on this network. Thanks, Steve Tse alberta!ncc!teletron!stolo/