Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 07:24:08 +0100 From: "Gary Palmer" <gpalmer@FreeBSD.ORG> To: "Jacob M. Parnas" <jparnas@jparnas.cybercom.net> Cc: Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.toronto.edu>, hardware@FreeBSD.ORG, bsdi-users@bsdi.com Subject: Re: muliport boards - building a PPP dialup server Message-ID: <12159.836029448@palmer.demon.co.uk> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 29 Jun 1996 01:48:16 EDT." <199606290548.BAA06076@jparnas.cybercom.net>
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"Jacob M. Parnas" wrote in message ID <199606290548.BAA06076@jparnas.cybercom.net>: > Why connect at high speeds with a UART: money. Most ethernet solutions > cost well over $1000 not counting the ethernet hardware which may not be at > home. (card, tranceiver or hub, cables, etc). I've seen a PC Card that > costs $199-$319 depending on who you are, and it does everything with a UART > on top (the software driver for BSDI will be $95. So, how does $400 sound to I'm sorry? I cabled and equipped a LAN at home for less than $1000, for 3 machines (2 PC's, and one `other') (admittedly 10b2, not 10bT which is what I would go for today). I take it you are talking about MAN/WAN solutions rather than LAN solutions? If that is what you are talking about, then it REALLY depends where you are ... it costs 400 pounds (about $600 US) just to INSTALL ISDN in this country :-( > you compared to the ethernet solution, considering that the $400 non-ethernet > solution compare to an ethernet one. You can get up to 512 Kbaud/second > with it, it has 3 types of compression and header compression (Stac, Ascend > and Microsoft) and can change from two BRI channels down to one and vice > versa as the other channel is used for voice fax, analog modem, phone, etc. > Pretty good in my opinion. Yet again, it depends on your application ... even if you buy a high-speed serial card, you still need the equipment to attach to it, which can be even more expensive. If you compare the overall cost with an integrated TA/router (take the Ascent P50 or P25 for an example), and the advantages/disadvantages for your particular application (i.e. the fact that you have 1 pc which causes problems if you reboot to change the kernel or if it crashes), then non-PC solutions become attractive. Gary -- Gary Palmer FreeBSD Core Team Member FreeBSD: Turning PC's into workstations. See http://www.FreeBSD.ORG/ for info
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