🚀 go-pugleaf

>In a recent column in OST James Gaskin suggests that system administrators
>should be converting ethernets from coax to 10BaseT and *not* investing
>anything more in coax.  I put two questions to the readers of this group:
>
>1) Do you concur with Mr. Gaskin that coax is dead or dying?
>
>2) What options are available for small (less than a dozen nodes) networks
>currently running coax and wanting to move to 10BaseT?  For example, I
>understand that 10BaseT topology has all nodes wired to hubs - are there hubs
>available which are cost effective for small networks?

I lead the Interop "wipe out thinnet" brigade.  I strongly agree that 
thinnet should go the way of punched cards.

About the *only* remaining use for thin-net any more is where you have a 
cluster of machines, say a collection of X terminals, all in one room.  When 
we design and build Interop, that is the only way we will use cheapernet.

(We now use fiber-optic Ethernet rather than thick coax for the long runs.)

I would never run thin-net through a wall and I would never put it where 
high reliability is required.  Because coax (whether thick or thin) does not 
limit termination or shorting problems, it tends to break whenever a user 
gets it into his mind to move something.

10-Base-T, on the other hand, is much more robust.  The wire itself is more 
solid.  (And if you use the standard 4-pair stuff, you get two spare pairs, 
just in case.)  If you use level 4 or level 5 wire, you can run it quite a 
long distance.  The RJ45 connectors tend to be pretty solid, much more so 
than most coax connectors (at least with respect to how they connect to the 
cable itself.)

10-Base-T hubs also often have very nice properties -- they can block out 
screeming (jabbering) hosts, block hosts which are sending mal-formed 
packets, enforce security, etc.  They often gather interesting statistics 
about which hosts are using the net, etc.

The 10-Base-T link state light itself is worth many man-hours of saved labor 
whenever a user calls up and says "my machine isn't talking on the net."

On some hubs you can also disable retiming.  This can increase your repeater 
budget, and hence allow end-users to put in their own fan-out boxes.

			--karl--