Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!atha!aupair.cs.athabascau.ca!rwa From: rwa@cs.athabascau.ca (Ross Alexander) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans Subject: Re: A LAN for my home Message-ID: Date: 29 Apr 91 19:52:52 GMT References: <1991Apr29.070815.161@weyrich.UUCP> <1991Apr29.152748.14811@pcserver2.naitc.com> Organization: Athabasca University Lines: 21 >In article <1991Apr29.070815.161@weyrich.UUCP> orville@weyrich.UUCP (Dr. Orville R. Weyrich) writes: >I am soon to build a house, and want a house which will have all the >important amenities for the years ahead, like for example a LAN. [...] >pair phone lines, but I sort of had ethernet in mind. If I string a bunch of >cable-tv cables (an extra bunch -- I'm the only one in the house that doesn't >watch TV), can they be pressed into service as ethernet cables? Are there >any parameters or gotcha's I need to watch out for? Don't use cable-tv cable. It is rather lossy, and the characteristic impedance is wrong (75 ohms rather than 802.3 spec 50 ohms). Get some RG-58/U coaxial cable instead; it's cheap like borscht and works fine (I use it in my office and at home). Or, as another person suggested, consider going with 10baseT - you will need to buy a hub, though, and the topology is star rather than buss. Remember if you plan to string cable through plenum space that it must be teflon covered (or equivalent). -- Ross Alexander rwa@cs.athabascau.ca (403) 675 6311 ve6pdq `You were s'posed to laugh!' -- Zippy