Re: Phigs, Networking, and Becomming an Internet Provider

[Yuri Anissimov <youri@example.com>]

Steve, 
At 17:36 18.10.96 JST, you wrote:

>Huh?  Cheap is cheap; once you get them working they won't become
>"obsolete".  Not in a home LAN!  If he can afford the resources of a
>major lab to be working on state of the art applications which require
>more bandwidth than even the worst of the clones from a decade ago can
>supply (I still have a 1990-vintage Novell Exos-J nantoka-kantoka
>"gomi-ready"-when-bought card in use) on 10Base-T, he doesn't need to
>go cheap.  If he wants cheap ... on an unloaded network (3--4 boxes,
>right?) I don't see the need for true multi-casts and all the high-end
>stuff that the new "smart" cards can do.
Yeah, I' ve been happy with PDP 11/23 with 10 Mb HDD a little than decade
ago and and a clone of IBM 370 covered all my needs in simulations in theory
of superconductivity. 
Kise was talking about 3 - 4  Pentium boxes 100 Mhz ++,  16 Mb++,
It is not a cheap pile of equipment. Home LAN it is usual to make for
experiments it is normal to try new OS three times a year in average. I do.
That is what the home LAN is usually about. I've bought PCI AMD network card
from ASUS a year ago, and generic NE2000 from PC Connection (maker unknown)
because they were cheap. 
Sure, I can download new drivers for AMD when 95 appeared but what the hell,
I spent more in terms of time than I saved in terms of money Meanwhile I do
not have to care for drivers in machine with older 3Com II - eventually
every OS supports them. You will say that NE2000 allows you to live without
specific drivers. Yes it does, but does anybody understand how it works - it
works only with Artisoft Lantastic (who cares about this NOS) and only with
IRQ 3 only, conflicting with com port. I can not enjoy life when nothing
depends on me.  
So, Kise, 3COM, Intel, SMC - my recommendation, price difference - 1-2 sen
yen per card  compared to cheaper vendors, also it is possible to buy 5 pack
- that is cheaper. HUB is recommended, if you can afford it. 3COM and Intel
PCI can have only some problems with bus mastering in some SMP machines, so
3COM III ISA would be a good choice

Yuri
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