🚀 go-pugleaf

In the name of Kibo the Compassionate, the Merciful,
on 4 Aug 1998 22:43:46 GMT,Jack Campin
the supplicant <jack@purr.demon.co.uk> implored:

>What's the most cost-effective way to network a few low-end Macintoshes
>together?  

Um ... phonenet? Basically there are these adapter boxes you can buy
which let you convert from appletalk to bog-standard (American) phone
wire. You still need the connectors (and last time I looked they were
a tenner a pop) but the cable price tends towards zero, unlike the
expensive appletalk crap.

You could ask Mac Warehouse how much they charge -- see 
http://www.macwarehouse.co.uk/.


-- Charlie (who uses ethernet these days)

PS: BTW, if you can find some old ethertalk boards, I have some elderly
ethertalk cables and connectors you can have for collecting.

Charlie Stross <charlie@antipope.org> wrote:

> In the name of Kibo the Compassionate, the Merciful,
> on 4 Aug 1998 22:43:46 GMT,Jack Campin
> the supplicant <jack@purr.demon.co.uk> implored:
> 
> >What's the most cost-effective way to network a few low-end Macintoshes
> >together?  
> 
> Um ... phonenet? Basically there are these adapter boxes you can buy
> which let you convert from appletalk to bog-standard (American) phone
> wire. You still need the connectors (and last time I looked they were
> a tenner a pop) but the cable price tends towards zero, unlike the
> expensive appletalk crap.
[snip]

The `connectors' as you call them are in fact boxes containing a couple
of signal transformers with two sockets and a lead to plug in to the
serial port of the Mac.  PhoneNet is the way to go: the actual
connectors you need for the end of the network cabling are about 50p
each from Maplin, and normal 4-core phone wire is fine for short (i.e.,
around the house rather than 1/2 mile up the road) cable runs.  Long
runs need twisted pair cable.

Rowland.


-- 
Remove the animal for my email address:   rebecca@astrid.dog.u-net.com
Sorry - the spam got to me.                       PGP pub key A680B89D
UK biker?                    Join MAG and help keep bureaucracy at bay
                          http://dredd.meng.ucl.ac.uk/www/mag/mag.html

Jack Campin <jack@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> What's the most cost-effective way to network a few low-end Macintoshes
> together?  Last time checked the prices, Apple's own cabling was much
> more expensive than it needed to be (and I do not wish to patronize the
> Edinburgh Scotsys fuckwits to get it).  Is there a cheaper alternative,
> preferably something I can buy in Edinburgh?
> 
> None of the machines has Ethernet capability, and it isn't worth adding
> it, so I'm not after that kind of solution.  AppleTalk/LocalTalk will do
> fine.  Is there a brew-it-yourself website somewhere?
> 
> (The distances and bandwidths involved are within the capability of two
> cocoa tins and a tight string, but I suspect you can only get cocoa-tin
> transducers for PCs).

You need Phonenet style connectors and then you can use basic telephone
cable from Maplin Electronics...100 metres for not very much money. I
actually ended up using standard phone sockets on the wall to connect
from the Macs/Phonenet boxes since I was cabling to different rooms.
It's obviously necessary to clearly mark them as computer network
connections otherwise someone will plug a phone into them sooner or
later! The best option would be to use RJ11 wall-mount boxes if you can
get them since these are the plugs which are already on the Phonenet
connector cables. If the Macs are all in the same room then this issue
doesn't arise anyway; there may be enough cable on the connectors as
they are.

Adrian

Jack Campin <jack@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> What's the most cost-effective way to network a few low-end Macintoshes
> together?  Last time checked the prices, Apple's own cabling was much
> more expensive than it needed to be (and I do not wish to patronize the
> Edinburgh Scotsys fuckwits to get it).  Is there a cheaper alternative,
> preferably something I can buy in Edinburgh?
> 
I'm sure you shouldn't have any problem sourcing old PhoneNet kits very
cheaply from people who have upgraded their networks to Ethernet. Try
posting an advert in uk.adverts.computer.