From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Aug 5 07:02:22 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id HAA19141 for hackers-outgoing; Mon, 5 Aug 1996 07:02:22 -0700 (PDT) Received: from brasil.moneng.mei.com (brasil.moneng.mei.com [151.186.109.160]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id HAA19136 for ; Mon, 5 Aug 1996 07:02:18 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from jgreco@localhost) by brasil.moneng.mei.com (8.7.Beta.1/8.7.Beta.1) id JAA00426; Mon, 5 Aug 1996 09:01:45 -0500 From: Joe Greco Message-Id: <199608051401.JAA00426@brasil.moneng.mei.com> Subject: Re: 100BASE-TX hubs To: dfr@render.com (Doug Rabson) Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 09:01:44 -0500 (CDT) Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: from "Doug Rabson" at Aug 5, 96 01:55:17 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24] Content-Type: text Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > [This is somewhat off-topic but it seemed likely that a few people reading > this list might know the answer] > > I was thinking of building a small 100BASE-TX network at home to try and > stress-test our NFS code and also investigate its performance. It seems > to me that I need a hub of some kind but I can't find any reasonably > priced 100BASE-TX products at all. The best I can come up with is the SMC > 5108TX which at $1595 for 8 ports (and I only want two or three) is wildly > expensive compared to an 8 port 10BASE-TX hub. I don't know what UK prices are like, but... I assume you are looking at the SMC TigerHub 100, which I see here listed in DataComm's catalog for $1299 (meaning it can be had 10% cheaper elsewhere). In the same catalog I see LanCast 6490 8-port 100base-TX for $929, a price I hadn't been aware of... almost any 100baseTX solution I've seen has been > $1000. Hmm.. also an Asante' 6-port for $969 "with free 10/100 adapter". That isn't a bad deal. However, if you're looking for something that is affordable - it just ain't there. > Are there any suppliers of low cost 100Mbps ethernet hubs out there > (preferably with a UK distributor)? Alternatively, can I avoid a hub > altogether? I vaguely remember something about a wire-swapped cable which > could connect two systems together. How would I go about buying/making > such a cable? I thought Rod Grimes gave us an answer to this a while back, but I don't see it readily apparent in my archives.. I would be interested in this answer too. > On the other hand, maybe I will just scrounge some old 10Mbps equipment > :-( That's not such a bad idea either. It's extremely inexpensive, particularly if you dump the 10base-T hubs (i.e. crossover cables) or go with 10base-2. ... JG