c60c-4ad@WEB.berkeley.edu (09/14/89)
Hello, We have two NeXT machines we would like to hook up to the ethernet. We have the ethernet connections ready.. all we do not have is a viable way to hook up the NeXts with their thin ether net connections to the thick ethernet cabling used here at UC Berkeley. Could someone please send some information on who to contact, what to do, or which kit to get to get us connected? As far as we know, there aren't any NeXt machines on the UC Berkeley campus hooked up to the ethernet. Thanks. Shin C. Kao skao@steve.berkeley.edu
pc@spt.entity.com (Peter Castagna) (09/16/89)
In article <31295@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> c60c-4ad@WEB.berkeley.edu () writes: >.. all we do not have is a viable way to hook >up the NeXts with their thin ether net connections to the thick ethernet >cabling used here at UC Berkeley. > >As far as we know, there aren't any NeXt machines on the UC Berkeley campus >hooked up to the ethernet. > >Shin C. Kao >skao@steve.berkeley.edu To hook up a thin (Cheapernet) ethernet connection to the thick (yellow) cabling network requires (to assure that the connection will always work) the purchase of the following equipment: Ethernet repeater for yellow cable to Cheapernet AUI Cable (3 to 10 meters or so should be adequate--just long enough to let you shove the repeater under a counter somewhere out of the way). You must meet the planning constraints for both the yellow and Cheapernet cabling, to wit: Check with the guys who install and maintain the network hardware to verify that you can in fact install another repeater (they will also tell you where to hook it up, will take over maintenance, and will possibly even supply you with the hardware). These people aren't just fascists: a number of bizarre behavior problems are caused by having too many repeaters in series, or having too long a cable length between machines, or purchasing repeaters that almost but not quite work with existing network equipment. Also, plugging something like a small, high-capacity cluster of NeXt cubes into the network may require more-expensive connection equipment (such as an Ethernet MAC Bridge) depending on the amount of actual traffic that the cubes will put onto the network. This is to prevent the cluster traffic (most of which will be cube-to-cube and doesn't have to go out of the cluster) from getting onto the campus network when it doesn't have to. Of course, if there is no network maintenance guy, just buy the hardware (many companies, such as BICC/British Telecomm and Cabletron/New Hampshire advertise in trade journals and Local Area Network magazines that you can read at most university libraries-just call up the number and ask for data sheets and pricing in single-lot quantities for Cheapernet to Ethernet repeaters), hook it up late some evening to an Ethernet spigot, and hook up your cluster with less than 100M of cheapernet cable to the repeater. The repeater will have indicators to show whether there is traffic present and whether the repeater is in a fault mode. If the traffic indicator is not flashing for the Ethernet side you should plug in a (borrowed) piece of Ethernet AUI equipment in to verify that the spigot is working. If the spigot is working, then you must replace the repeater (there will always be some overhead traffic using the network, even during hours when nobody is logged in over the network) or the AUI cable (a proper AUI Cable will have 802.3 AUI written on the plastic cable). If any fault lamp on the Repeater is lit, first power cycle (i.e., turn the power off then on) the Repeater before you believe there is an actual network fault. Some of those things act funny when you plug and unplug things into them. If at this point (traffic lamp flashing on the Ethernet side, no fault lamps lit) you can not run network software without it crashing (I have no idea of what message comes up when the network is not accessible on a NeXt) write down the state (on and off) of all LED's on the repeater and call up the panic number written in the repeater documentation next morning. That person will then (probably) run you through a checklist, and, when you tell them you have a NeXt cube hooked up, they might even be interested. If this doesn't help...
george@hyper.lap.upenn.edu (George "Sir Lleb" Zipperlen) (09/19/89)
I'm not very hardware knowledgeable, so please be kind...
We have a campus-wide fibre-optical net which is connected in our
lab to a Desta. The Desta has two thin coax outlets and a multi-pin
plug which connects to a Delni to which we connect all of our Ethernet
gateway machines. One of the thin coax connectors is connected to
the fibre-optics box, the other is free.
I tried connecting a thin-coax from the NeXt to the Desta, but this
didn't work too well, none of the machines on the local net could
talk to each other until I disconnected the NeXt. (I disconnected
from the Campus net while trying this.) I had previously arranged
an internet address for the NeXt, and run NetManager. (We're using
0.9, booting from hard disk).
Am I doing something wrong in the software configuration, or is there
another piece of hardware I need to put this all together? Or is this
something that won't work until 1.0 is released? Documentation is
still rather sparse.
--
George Zipperlen george@apollo.lap.upenn.edu george@hyper.lap.upenn.edu
...!{rutgers, uunet, mit-eddie, decwrl}!upenn.edu!apollo.lap!george
Blatant plug for funky-music@apollo.lap.upenn.edu "Won't be no Static" -JBdennis@yang.cpac.washington.edu (Dennis Gentry) (09/19/89)
In article <204@spt.entity.com> pc@spt.entity.com (Peter Castagna) writes: From: pc@spt.entity.com (Peter Castagna) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Date: 16 Sep 89 16:58:31 GMT References: <31295@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Reply-To: pc@spt.UUCP (Peter Castagna) In article <31295@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> c60c-4ad@WEB.berkeley.edu () writes: >.. all we do not have is a viable way to hook >up the NeXts with their thin ether net connections to the thick ethernet >cabling used here at UC Berkeley. > >As far as we know, there aren't any NeXt machines on the UC Berkeley campus >hooked up to the ethernet. > >Shin C. Kao >skao@steve.berkeley.edu To hook up a thin (Cheapernet) ethernet connection to the thick (yellow) cabling network requires (to assure that the connection will always work) the purchase of the following equipment: Ethernet repeater for yellow cable to Cheapernet AUI Cable (3 to 10 meters or so should be adequate--just long enough to let you shove the repeater under a counter somewhere out of the way). This is not true. All you need to go from thick to thin cable is a small connector that connects to thick coax on one end and thin coax on the other. This article is being posted through such a setup. Repeaters are expensive. Of course, there may be an impedance mismatch that limits the maximum size of your network, but it's working fine here with a 200 meter segment. Also, the entire segment will jam if you open the loop, but it does work. All in all, it's a reasonable solution for people who don't mind educating all users on a segment that it's not OK to open it up. Dennis (dennis@yang.cpac.washington.edu)
george@hyper.lap.upenn.edu (George "Sir Lleb" Zipperlen) (09/21/89)
In article <14507@netnews.upenn.edu> george@hyper.lap.upenn.edu (George "Sir Lleb" Zipperlen) writes:
[ I asked about connecting NeXt to a Desta via thin ethernet. ]
Several kind people have explained T-connectors and terminators to me.
Thanks for your help. As soon as the bureaucracy has done it's thing,
I can try this out.
--
George Zipperlen george@apollo.lap.upenn.edu george@hyper.lap.upenn.edu
...!{rutgers, uunet, mit-eddie, decwrl}!upenn.edu!apollo.lap!george
Blatant plug for funky-music@apollo.lap.upenn.edu "Won't be no Static" -JBphssra@mathcs.emory.edu (Scott R. Anderson) (09/27/89)
In article <DENNIS.89Sep18205830@yang.cpac.washington.edu> dennis@yang.cpac.washington.edu (Dennis Gentry) writes: > > In article <31295@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> c60c-4ad@WEB.berkeley.edu () writes: > >.. all we do not have is a viable way to hook > >up the NeXts with their thin ether net connections to the thick ethernet > >cabling used here at UC Berkeley. > >All you need to go from thick to thin cable is a small connector that connects >to thick coax on one end and thin coax on the other. We have a slightly different situation here, but with the same problem, i.e. how to connect our NeXT. We have a BICC Fan-out unit, which is basically an ethernet-in-a-box, *including* all transceivers. All you need to do is run an AUI cable from the box to the (thick) ethernet connector on your computer, and away you go. Of course, the NeXT has only the thin ethernet connector, with its own transceiver on-board. So, the question becomes, "how does one eliminate one or the other of these transceivings?" We are told that there is some other box which will interface between the two, which will cost ~$700. We would obviously like to avoid this additional, unexpected charge. Does anyone have any other solutions? * * ** Scott Robert Anderson gatech!emoryu1!phssra * * * ** phssra@unix.cc.emory.edu phssra@emoryu1.bitnet * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *