🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1g8n6tINNnmo@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca> morrison@unixg.ubc.ca (Rick Morrison  
- System Mgr) writes:
> We have the following surplus equipment:
> 
> 2 - 10BaseT to 10Base2 ethernet repeaters (used
>     to go from a twisted pair network to a thin-wire coax
>     network).                             --- Cabletron CTPT100T
> 

A Cabletron CTP100T is *not* a repeater, it is a media converter. As such,
it has difficulties with some devices connected to its Thinwire port, and the
Thinwire segment is limited in length and number of stations (10 max).

(The difficulties are a result of the lack of a repeater, since timing cannot
be reliably maintained across the link, and machines like the NeXT or Auspex
file server, both of which serve back-to-back packets to the channel with 
minimal, but within specification, spacing, end up with a lot of Ethernet  
errors.)

The CTP100T is useful in a small lab that uses only low performance Ethernet  
devices, but don't try to use it with workstations that expect the net to
behave at full IEE 802.3 specifications.

SFU is generally a very satisfied Cabletron customer, and most of their devices  
do the job that they were designed to do very well. The CTP100T has been the  
one flaw in the ointment, and since other suppliers can provide equivalent  
convertors *with built-in repeaters* for less money, I'd recommend that you  
look around before buying a CTP100T.

(I'm sorry if this makes your sale more difficult, but this is a product that  
has caused me a lot of hassle, which I would like to save any potential  
buyers!)

- Richard Chycoski
  Senior Systems Consultant
  Simon Fraser University
  richard@sfu.ca