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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!seismo!ll-xn!ames!ptsfa!ihnp4!ihlpa!normt
From: normt@ihlpa.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Thin Ethernet
Message-ID: <3290@ihlpa.ATT.COM>
Date: Fri, 13-Mar-87 15:43:17 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpa.3290
Posted: Fri Mar 13 15:43:17 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Mar-87 10:06:34 EST
References: <4122@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 23
Keywords: trouble-reports thin-ethernet

In article <4122@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>, rbthomas@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (Rick Thomas) writes:
> Does anybody out there have any experience with thin ethernet?
> What happens to the network if somebody unhooks their machine from the
> BNC connector and leaves it flapping in the breeze?
> Assuming that nothing bad happens, then what happens after it has flapped
> for a couple of months and finally comes in contact with a lurking
> paperclip just waiting to short the cable?
What happens is just what you think would happen. As long as the it is only the
"T" connection that is undone (i.e. not the cable itself) there will be no
problems. We have about 8-9 hanging empty on our cable at all times. 

And, of course, if something metal touchs and shorts out the BNC connector, the
communication is dead. Some coax drivers will overheat on the rest of the
cable and die. Others are robust enough you handle this for some time.

For the most part, it is ok to let them dangle, but care should be taken
not to short the BNC. Our network is not more than about 20 meters, so longer
networks may have noise margin problems, but I doubt it.

	Norm Tiedemann		ihnp4!ihlpa!normt
	AT&T Bell Labs
	Naperville, IL
		 60566