Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 14 Jan 1999 03:02:39 -0500 (EST) | From | "Mike A. Harris" <> | Subject | RE: Cheap network for two hosts ? |
| |
On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Joshua Snyder wrote:
>The main reason that I use UTP over coax in my home network is >accessibility. By that I mean, most people who have Ethernet cards in their >computer have a UTP port, but not everyone has coax. I know this would be >no issue if you were buying all of the machines yourself. Let me give you >an example of a scenario were the comes into play. One of the main uses for >my network is multiplayer games. I like to invite my friends to come over >to play ( LAN parties ) things like Quake2 and starcraft. Many of the >computers that they bring ( and my machine also ) have 10/100meg cards. I >have yet to see a 10/100 card with a coax port. I would recommend using >coax if I knew I was only going to ever want to use my own machines. If you >have even a small felling that you would want to host a lan party I would >use UTP.....
When I buy cards, I get combo cards. My home network is coax, but I'll pick up a hub sometime. Locally, I have 2 machines connected almost always, and sometimes 3 - of my own. Also, quite often, some people bring a box over for multiplayer games, or to surf the web in tandem and do research - so I often have at least 1 to 2 machines here that are not mine that are left here at any given point in time. Most people I know also have combo cards. Anyone buying a single card, I tell to get a combo card so that they can connect to any network easily - also because mine is the one they'll most likely be connected to.
I have enough coax to handle 5 machines here, and if necessary, I'd get more. Usually if someone is bringing a bunch of machines over for a "lan party" as you describe (we call it a Quake-fest - even if we're not playing Quake) someone allready *HAS* a hub, and they bring it over. I've got tonnes of CAT5 cable, and We usually end up with an 8 or 16 port brought over so there is no problem. I've got enough coax for 5 machines, and I've got at least 5 10base2 cards to go around if we needed to swap.
I'd love to get a hub, and likely will soon, but can't afford it right now. Coax is cheap, works good for *me*. I've not had any trouble with the coax yet. If someone CAN afford a hub for their network, then I say get it, and don't bother with coax. I still see coax as a very cheap home network solution though.
-- Mike A. Harris - Computer Consultant - Linux advocate
Linux software galore: http://freshmeat.net
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |