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Questions about coaxial networking

L

Luke727

Member
Ok. When our house was being built, my dad had them install some coaxial cable for networking our computers (since that's what he's been using in his office forever). I know it would probably have been better to install some cat5, but it's a bit too late for that 🙂 . Anyway, it's main purpose was to allow for sharing internet connections. We're tired of everyone trying to get online at the same time. At the moment all that is offered here is 56k. So 10mbps is plenty. First question. How exactly is this type of network setup? At his office, all of the computers are wired to each other via a T-shaped connector on each pc's nic. I feel like I read somewhere that if one pc is not on, pc's after that one are not able to access the network? I'm not sure exactly how the wire is setup in the walls, so I'll have to ask him or look at the plans. Or if there is a good guide somewhere online could you point me towards it? Second question. If eventually cable/dsl becomes available here, will this networking setup affect the internet connection speed at all? Also, I don't recall any hubs or switches or anything at my dad's office, so how would I designate which computer is to be the "server" ? Would software like WinProxy do a decent job of sharing the connection? Oh yeah. Can someone point me to where I can get a nic with BNC connectors for a decent price?

🙂😉🙁😱:disgust:😀:|:Q😛😎:frown:😕 - MY FACE HURTS
 
Thanks a lot. That looks very helpful. One more question. Is there such a thing as a BNC-to-RJ45 adapter, and if so would that work with the coax cable and fast ethernet cards?
 
the coax is useful for one thing, pulling rj45 thru the walls!😉

as far as NICs look at local computer shops that carry used or surplus stuff
if you cant find any locally let me know, i think there is a store near me with them

a coax to rj45 adaptor would not work for networking,
 
There are coax-to-RJ45 adapters, called transceivers, Allied TeleSyn probably still make 'em, Black Box probably still has 'em. They used to be over US$100.00 each, they're probably a bit cheaper now.

Coax (10BASE-2) should work OK. Several hints though:

There should be terminating resistor caps (50 Ohm) on the outside ends of the cable (only)...like draw a line, put an "X" over each end of the line.....that's where the termination should go. ONE of the terminatirs should be grounded...not both, both is bad.

For all machines between the terminators, the cable must come up to the NIC (one side of the "T" connector) and continue to the next PC/device (the other side of the "T"). You cannot/should not put the "T" in the line, then run s single coax lead to the NIC...it FUBARS the signalling (it's a "Tuned Stub"). You Must have terminators, even going between two machines...

I think 3COM made a 3C905 10/100 NIC that also had BNC and AUI connectors (10 Meg only) in addition to the RJ45. If you haven't bought NICs yet, look around for for the 3COMs, then you can migrate from coax to UTP (and 100meg).

Good Luck

Scott
 
Yeah ok. The 3com combo cards are a bit expensive, in excess of $100. I've found the Linksys LNEPCI2 and the D-Link DE-528CT. Both are cheap PCI cards with both coax and rj45 for around $30. I really don't think that rewiring the house with some RJ45 is an option, and 10mbps will probably be just fine for quite a while. I absolutely love my LNE100TX, so I think I'll probably go with the Linksys. One thing I just noticed about our wiring is that on each panel there is only one coax cable connection, and there are two panels in each room. So I'm guessing I'll have to buy some thin coax and run wire from each panel to the NIC (well, I'd actually only have to do that for the "middle" pc). I'll have to figure out this wiring scheme. Does it matter which order I connect the pcs in, or will it work if say the middle pc is turned off?
 
Well, if you wanted to updaste your existing cable plant, you can replace the faceplates with a Amp version that does the pass-through, and gives you a single cable from the plate to the nic (actually a bonded pair of coax so it still satisfies the "t" connection thing). It also uses "make before break" switches so you can unplug the cable without affecting the other machines.

FWIW

Scott
 
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