[Glastonbury] Wireless Access Point

[Henry Bennett]

Hubs are at the bottom of the food chain, followed by switches then routers.

 

Hub - Contains electronics to handle the signals and collision detection
then forwards the everything it receives to all the other ports. Hubs run
into problems at high loads due to the nature of the CDMA (Collision
Detection with Multiple Access) protocol which maxes the line quite quickly.

 

Switch - A switch learns where items are on it's local downstream and
filters which packets are sent to which port. This is more efficient than
simply sending every packet to every port.

 

A router reads the packets header (or contents) and then forwards it down
the most appropriate route. The Routes are stored in a route table and are
dynamic, if a link fails the data can still get through. Big routers are
very very expensive.

 

Your best bet would be to go for a hub as they are cheap and there is
nothing to configure. You can plug it into an existing RJ45 socket and
expand the number of ports available to use. All you need to know is the
default gateway IP info. No mucking about with multiple DHCP servers and
routing tables. Greg is probably right about the 10base2 port which used
coax connections to run the signal. I'd skip that one.

 

Henry Bennett

 

  _____  

From: glastonbury-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk
[mailto:glastonbury-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Greg Browne
Sent: 31 December 2005 10:20
To: The Linux User Group of Glastonbury (LUGOG)
Subject: Re: [Glastonbury] Wireless Access Point

 

It most probably has RJ45 connections and an old 10Base2 connection. Many
old routers/hubs had both.

As I understand it. A router broadcasts the information out on all ports, a
switch is more intelligent. It has already etected the connections so just
sends the packet to the correct port, saving lots of traffic and bandwidth.

Greg

(From webopedia - One of several adaptations of the Ethernet
<http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/1/Ethernet.html>  (IEEE 802.3
<http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/1/IEEE_802_standards.html> ) standard for
Local Area <http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/1/local_area_network_LAN.html>
Networks (LANs). The 10Base-2 standard (also called Thinnet) uses 50 ohm
coaxial cable <http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/1/coaxial_cable.html>  (RG-58
A/U) with maximum lengths of 185 meters. This
<http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/1/10Base_2.html> cable is thinner and more
flexible than that used for the 10Base-5 standard.)
-- 
Greg Browne
www.rotherleigh.co.uk
Tel: 020 7871 8495
Fax: 07967 627835 

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