Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!cs.utah.edu!haas
From: haas@cs.utah.edu (Walt Haas)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Cost of 10BaseT
Message-ID: <1990Feb26.082610.7963@hellgate.utah.edu>
Date: 26 Feb 90 15:26:09 GMT
References: <27314@cup.portal.com>
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Lines: 31

In article <27314@cup.portal.com> Will@cup.portal.com (Will E Estes) writes:
>I want to connect 5 people in an Ethernet LAN, and the number of connections
>could grow to a total of 20 by the end of the year.  I want to use
>Ethernet because of the speed, and I want something that is both inexpensive
>and flexible enough to allow us to grow.  My questions are:
>
>1) If I go the 10BaseT route, what are the pieces of hardware I need to
>buy, and what are the costs?  I realize I need 5 10BaseT cards and the
>RJ45.  What else?

You need an active hub to plug all machines into.  The hub needs a port
with a repeater for each machine.  You will hence need to expand the hub
as you expand your network.

>2) I have heard some people express concerns that the 10BaseT vendors
>manufactured their cards before the spec was finished.  Is this a 
>concern, or did the spec that was used to build cards end up being
>the final spec?  In particular, will I be safe buying 3COM's 10BaseT
>cards?

It is definitely a concern at this time,  Maybe not in a year or so.
In particular, the spec isn't even finished - we're all just betting
tht this draft won't be sent back for revision before final approval.

>3) Are there any potential compatibility problems in putting together
>a heterogeneous network of PCs, Macs, Suns, and DEC VMS workstations?

Software compatibility of course - what protocol(s) are you going to
run?

Cheers  -- Walt