MOLTA@VAXB.ACS.UNT.EDU (01/10/90)
>I'm converting an arcnet LAN to ethernet and can't decide to go with the >Western Digital cards or the Novell cards. The NE1000's are much cheaper >and they support a multi-protocol stack which might be useful to me in the >future. So why am I hesitating? Well, I have had good luck in the past >with the WD's at other sites, but haven't heard anything good or bad about >the Novell's. If anyone has some first hand great/rotten experiences with >either of these that would help make up my mind I would appreciate hearing >about them. We've got about 50 NE-1000s on campus and another 50 on order and we've been pretty happy with them. Now that packet drivers are available, it's a little tough to justify the extra $75 or so for the WD cards, although I think the WD cards will give you a little better performance. The real advantage I see with the NE-1000 is that you'll never have to worry about Netware drivers if new versions of the OS or shells are released. We've gotten burned in the past when we had to rely on third parties to develop new Netware drivers when they made the shift from 2.0a (ANETX) to 2.1 (IPX and NETX). I heard a rumor recently that the reason the NE-1000s are so cheap is that Novell/Anthem cut a deal with National Semiconductor for something like quantity 1 million 8390 Ethernet Processors at around 25% of the normal distribution cost. Furthermore, as the rumor goes, Anthem is running out of 8390s from the initial purchase and when they buy some additional chips, prices will go up. I'm not sure if I believe this but it sounds plausible. Dave Molta University of North Texas
DESCHAPEL@DAYTON.BITNET (01/10/90)
We have been using the WD cards here and have had a good success rate with them. Hit only one failed card in over 100 that we installed. Don't know anything about the NE1000
NICK@UMUC.BITNET (01/11/90)
On Tue, 9 Jan 90 20:28:34 PST Mark Fellows - UCS said: >I'm converting an arcnet LAN to ethernet and can't decide to go with the >Western Digital cards or the Novell cards. The NE1000's are much cheaper >and they support a multi-protocol stack which might be useful to me in the >future. So why am I hesitating? Well, I have had good luck in the past >with the WD's at other sites, but haven't heard anything good or bad about >the Novell's. If anyone has some first hand great/rotten experiences with >either of these that would help make up my mind I would appreciate hearing >about them. > >MarkF >fellows@ucs.orst.edu We use 3c503's here. the latest contract brings them in around $180 ea when bought in a 5 pack. They are well supported and work great. I dont know how those prices compare to Novell or WD. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Nick Lemberos CREN : Nick@UMUC.Bitnet | | Asst. Director Internet: Nick@UMUC.Umd.Edu | | Academic Computing Phone : (301) 985-7170 | | US Mail: University of Maryland - University College (UMUC) | | University Boulevard @ Adelphi Road | | College Park, MD 20742-1615 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+