Re: Thicknet/10base5 Test Segment: The Cable is In!

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Aug 31, 2018, at 3:25 PM, Grant Taylor via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> On 08/31/2018 01:07 PM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:
>> Yeah, I forget what the original allowed length was for drop cables, but I 
>> seem to remember it striking me as quite long! A few feet of CAT5 (or even 
>> better, STP) has a lot of wiggle room :P
> 
> I think I've seen reports of multi AUI port taps.  Correct?

You may be thinking of the DELNI, a multi AUI hub.  Not a repeater, apparently. 
 DEC also made a repeater in that era, the DEREP -- just two ports.  That may 
be why the DELNI was built, as a way to get more fanout without the complexity 
of a multiport repeater built out of discrete electronics.

> Could you have one multi-port tap in a computer lab (of 5 ~ 20 machines) and 
> connect them all to the single tap?  Sort of like what is done with 10BaseT 
> cables to a hub in the room?

Yes, the DELNI allowed for that, you'd plug in up to 8 NICs and then connect 
the uplink port to a transceiver.

        paul