From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 16 04:22:21 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 179FE106566C for ; Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:22:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dkelly@hiwaay.net) Received: from smtp.knology.net (smtp.knology.net [24.214.63.101]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A58F78FC0C for ; Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:22:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dkelly@hiwaay.net) Received: (qmail 28241 invoked by uid 0); 16 Jul 2009 03:55:39 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ?10.0.0.7?) (24.42.224.110) by smtp7.knology.net with SMTP; 16 Jul 2009 03:55:39 -0000 In-Reply-To: References: <20090715194718.GA16401@Grumpy.DynDNS.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v753.1) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <41F6B586-E6A8-4FF8-95EB-E8A6C8E1F020@hiwaay.net> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: David Kelly Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:55:53 -0500 To: nightrecon@verizon.net X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.753.1) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 5000' ethernet? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:22:21 -0000 On Jul 15, 2009, at 5:41 PM, Michael Powell wrote: > David Kelly wrote: > >> Not directly FreeBSD related, but how much of a chance is there >> that two >> machines could communicate directly over 5,000 feet of cat5 with no >> special hardware? >> >> IIRC the classic ethernet problem limiting the distance between the >> farthest points on a network had to do with timing and collisions. If >> these two NICs are configured full duplex then it seems one would >> have >> no idea how far away the other was due to timing issues. > > No. Ethernet uses a protocol design called Carrier Sense Multiple > Access > with Collision Detect, or CSMA/CD. The maximum lengths are indeed > related to > timing and the timing is a direct result of the propagation delay > in the > medium. The velocity factor will be some percentage of the speed of > light. Since when does one have CSMA/CD when configured as full duplex? All full duplex ethernet connections are point to point, machine to machine, or machine to switch. There is no multiple access on full duplex. No chance of collision. So I'm thinking at 5,000' the problem is one of echo cancelation and signal loss, not one of ethernet protocol. -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net ======================================================================== Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.