paisley@mte.ncsu.edu (Mike) (12/15/89)
We're setting up a new subnet behind a FastPath in building that was supposedly wired "correctly". Meaning, every room was wired back to a central room, and forms a largish star. Now these stars are supposed to be much easier to manage, and I'll beleive it for the moment. However, now just for 8-10 nodes we almost HAVE to buy a star controller. So, how do the star controllers from Farralon and Nuvotech stack up? I know its 12 vs. 16 ports, and no lights vs. status lights, but how else do they differ? And what would YOU get if you had your druthers. Now a second point. Some of these nodes are going to be PCs, some microchannel and some not. Since we will want to run NCSA Telnet on these PCs, what are the best PC LocalTalk cards to install? And for that matter, how do TOPSprint and ApplePCprint and others software compare for letting those PCs get to a laserprinter (an IBM Page Printer II running PostScript)? Sorry to ask so much, but I know so little. Michael J. Paisley PAISLEY@MTE.NCSU.EDU Materials Science & Engineering PAISLEY%MTE@NCSUVX.NCSU.EDU 229 Riddick Laboratories PAISLEY@NCSUMTE.BITNET Campus Box 7907 Office: (919) 737-7083 North Carolina State University Messages: (919) 737-2377 Raleigh, NC 27695-7907 FAX: (919) 737-7724 or 3419
tom@wcc.oz (Tom Evans) (12/18/89)
In article <8912150015.AA20856@ncsuvx>, paisley@mte.ncsu.edu (Mike) writes: > We're setting up a new subnet behind a FastPath in building that was > supposedly wired "correctly". Meaning, every room was wired back to a > central room, and forms a largish star. If you've got enough arms on the star and they're close together, consider using the following hardware-saving scheme. Instead of this: [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | [ Star Controller in central closet ] Connect the ends of your star using the normal PhoneNet boxes in the office, and jumpers in the wiring closet ("[]" represents PhoneNet boxes). Create the following topology: [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [Mac] [] [] [] [] [] [] +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | [ Central Patch Panel ............] | | | | | +-----+ +-----+ [FastPath] Jumper Jumper Remember to terminate the ends, stand by for disruptions when people disconnect things they shouldn't - Star controllers (of any brand) save you from this. --------- Tom Evans tom@wcc.oz.au | Webster Computer Corp P/L | "The concept of my 1270 Ferntree Gully Rd | existence is an Scoresby VIC 3179 | approximation" Australia | 61-3-764-1100 FAX ...764-1179 | D. Conway 2109 O'Toole Avenue, Suite J SAN JOSE CA 95131 - 1303 CALIFORNIA 1-408-954-8054 FAX 1-408-954-1832