10base-T or thinnet?

Thread View: comp.sys.next.sysadmin

3 messages

[T] Back to Threads [V] Tree View [G] Group Articles

3 total messages Started by Peter Steele Mon, 05 Oct 1992 21:26

#1773

Author: Peter Steele
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 21:26

25 lines
1794 bytes

A new staff member recently arrived and brought with her the first
two NeXT stations we've had on campus. I went through the normal
setup for her stations and connected her to ethernet as I we would
any other Unix workstation. I used the 10base-T port on the stations
as that was the type of connection in her office. However, this
did not work. We brought one of the machines to another location and tried
hooking it up to thinnet using the thinnet port on the back of the
workstation and everything worked fine.

We called NeXT and asked if there was something special that had to be
done to make it recognize the 10base-T port and the guy we spoke to
said it was autosensing and should work automatically on either thinnet
or 10base-T. Still puzzled, we contacted the individual who had hooked
up the machines at their previous location and he said he hooked them
up to 10base-T without any trouble, although he seemed to recall having
to set some prom parameter or something to tell the NeXt which port to
use.

What's the true story? NeXT says the ports are autosensing, and
someone has told us they are not. If someone could clarify this
we'd appreciate it very much. Thanks.

--
Peter Steele        Unix Services Manager            peter.steele@acadiau.ca 
Acadia Univ., Wolfville, NS, Canada B0P 1X0  902-542-2201  Fax: 902-542-4364

Re: 10base-T or thinnet?

#1764

Author: Daniel T. Pritts
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1992 01:19

11 lines
916 bytes

In article <root.718320413@merlin> peter@merlin.acadiau.ca (Peter  
Steele) writes:
> What's the true story? NeXT says the ports are autosensing, and
> someone has told us they are not. If someone could clarify this
> we'd appreciate it very much. Thanks.

NeXT is right.
--
dan pritts                consultant/system administrator
dan.pritts@umich.edu      um itd/css unix support group 
313/998-6265

Re: 10base-T or thinnet?

#1379

Author: Robin D. Wilson
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1992 14:39

58 lines
3694 bytes

In article <root.718320413@merlin> peter@merlin.acadiau.ca (Peter Steele)  
writes:
> What's the true story? NeXT says the ports are autosensing, and
> someone has told us they are not. If someone could clarify this
> we'd appreciate it very much. Thanks.

Well, NeXT is right... We had several machines connected to Thinnet, and just  
removed them from the thinnet, and plugged in the RJ45 on the 10BASE-T;  
rebooted and everything was fine.

I suggest you look at two things:

1)  Your twisted pair.  We have found that FLAT phone wires work OK for  
limited distances, but over long hauls (100+ feet) they seem to have very  
flaky problems.  We recommend that you use twisted copper wiring that meets  
the 10BASE-T spec (x number of twists per foot).

2)  Your ethernet port has died.  We had one go out on us, but both the  
Thinnet and the 10BASE-T died at the same time, so this seems less likely to  
be your problem.

NOTE: for wiring problems it is best to test each piece of the wiring back to  
your HUB.  The easiest way to do this is to test the connection directly at  
the HUB.  Take the machine to the HUB (or the HUB to the machine), plug in  
the wiring that will run from the wall outlet (demarc) to the machine.  After  
you verify that wire, check the wire that runs from the patch panel to the  
HUB.  If both of these work, then it is likely that the wiring from the  
demarc to the patch panel is the culprit.  You could test this by using the  
verified wires on another outlet set.

Of course, I have made a broad assumption here that your wiring looks like  
this:
                            Twisted Pair
------           |      /-------------------\
|NeXT|           |<Wall/                     \         Patch Panel
|    |           |    /                       \      ---------------
------   Demarc\ |   /                         \_____| |x| | | | | |
------__________\+__/                                | ||| | | | | |
------           |                                   ---|-----------
                                                        |
                                                     ---|-----------
                                                     | ||| | | | | |
                                                     | |x| | | | | |
                                                     ---------------
                                                        HUB

If your wiring doesn't look something like this, then you'll need to adjust  
your plan accordingly.  The basic goal is to identify the smallest piece of  
the system that could be broken.  So you break off each segment and test it  
separately.  Good luck.

--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|They didn't even know I could talk, much less have opinions  (yeah right!) |
|USNail:   701 Canyon Bend Dr.                 Internet:   robin@pencom.com |
|          Pflugerville, TX  78660                                          |
|          Home: (512)251-1737                 Work: (512)343-1111          |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Thread Navigation

This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.

Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.

Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.

Back to All Threads