[comp.sys.dec] How do I break out from a DEC DELNI to thin-wire Ethernet?

shoat@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Mr. David Shoat) (05/22/89)

What's the best (only?) way to break out from a DEC DELNI onto thin-wire? The
DELNI, for the uninitiated, is a mains-powered device which emulates a piece
of coax cable and some transceivers. You just plug up to eight transceiver
cables from your systems into the box and it all works. There is also another
port on the DELNI into which one is supposed to connect a standard thick-
wire transceiver. This should let you break out on to a thick-wire network.
Will this work with thin-wire, or do I need a repeater?

Does anyone know why my whole damn network crashes every time I throw the
switch on the DELNI which enables the external port?

Thanks.

David Shoat
Dept. of Medical Cardiology
Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

cyrus@pprg.unm.edu (Tait Cyrus) (05/23/89)

In article <2988@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> shoat@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Mr. David Shoat) writes:
>
>What's the best (only?) way to break out from a DEC DELNI onto thin-wire?
>.... There is also another
>port on the DELNI into which one is supposed to connect a standard thick-
>wire transceiver. This should let you break out on to a thick-wire network.
>Will this work with thin-wire, or do I need a repeater?

No, you do not need a repeater.  Yes it will work with thin-wire.  I
currently have a DELNI set up exactly that way.  I have a DESTA
(thin-wire transceiver) connected to this last port and I have not
had any troubles with it.

>Does anyone know why my whole damn network crashes every time I throw the
>switch on the DELNI which enables the external port?

Without knowing the topology of you network, I can't answer this.  Are you
sure you are not mixing heart beat with no-heart beat?
>
>Thanks.
>
>David Shoat

---
W. Tait Cyrus   (505) 277-0806		e-mail: cyrus@pprg.unm.edu
University of New Mexico			
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Parallel Processing Research Group
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131

tedcrane@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane) (05/25/89)

In article <2988@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> shoat@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Mr. David Shoat) writes:
>
>What's the best (only?) way to break out from a DEC DELNI onto thin-wire? 

I just had occasion, today, to try this, and it worked:
Connect a DESTA (< $300)) to the external Ethernet port on the DELNI.
If you don't know which one that is, it is the one to which the DESTA
fits without wierdness.  There's only one.
The slide switch has to be in the "external" position (open box as opposed
to closed box icon).

This connection is not documented anywhere that I found, and the local
DEC folk wouldn't say that it's supposed to work.  Common sense (along the
lines of "Ethernet is foolproof, and if the cables match physically, they
are meant to match electrically") says it should work ,and it does.

>Does anyone know why my whole damn network crashes every time I throw the
>switch on the DELNI which enables the external port?

If you have no transceiver or transceiver-substitute (as in the above
suggestion) connected to the port when its in external mode, you've got
the equivalent of a plumbing system with an end cap left off.  The bits
spill out.  Either disable the port (which still lets you chain DELNIs
together) or connect a transceiver to it.  Again, this should be intuitive!