All the hubs I had after people upgraded to switches got tossed. There is 0 reason to use a hub over a switch. You won't ever change my mind.
Here is a great retro one... and from CompUSA which no longer exists:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-100-network-switc … a-/194136771104
Even the once ubiquitous Linksys BEFSR41 from 1999 had an integrated switch and Ethernet switches were a thing in business environments well before that .
My take on experiencing a given time period is to try to take advantage of the best that was available then, except when going for the nostalgia element .
My experience with broadband Internet at home started in early 1997 with peak downstream speeds of over 5Mbps during off-peak hours . I also bought my first 5-port switch in 1999ish, AFAICR (Netgear FS105). I am pretty sure that qualifies me as an early adopter, at least where I live .
That being said, I completely understand why someone might want to use a hub or even 10Base2 over coax,or even so far as simulating dial-up Internet, but that is taking it a step too far for me personally and, I would guess, a fair number of other people.
Anyway, we all have our specific retro kinks, some of which are only shared by a select few and that's fine by me .
Good luck, OP, and have fun!
I recently fixed my 16 port + coax/AUI 10Mbit hub by replacing one of the chips inside responsible for half of the ports.
Came across an outdated aliexpress link on google for the chip , contacted the seller and they were still selling them.
I already had patched it to only use 8 ports before I had the replacement, and have plenty of 5 and 8 port 10/100/1000 switches around, so anyone asking themselves why I would fix that.
Well the answer is simple.
Anyway, now I have a fully working 19" wide 16 RJ45 + coax/aui 10 Mbit hub with the rackmount brackets again !
Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port
HP or Cisco or 3com from that time period were popular.
Get a managed switch.
3com and Intel network cards were most popular and had good support back in 1990’s
I would go with an HP or Cisco switch.
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-05-23, 22:15:HP or Cisco or 3com from that time period were popular.
Get a managed switch.
What do you need one of those for on a home network to systems with 10-100-gigabit nics other than bragging rights?
Oh that's right you are the resident Silicon Valley network expert from the early '90s who doesn't know how to set up a 486 system.
There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉
Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-23, 23:03:Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-05-23, 22:15:HP or Cisco or 3com from that time period were popular.
Get a managed switch.
What do you need one of those for on a home network to systems with 10-100-gigabit nics other than bragging rights?
Oh that's right you are the resident Silicon Valley network expert from the early '90s who doesn't know how to set up a 486 system.
Hah...
On the same note, I picked up a Dell 48-port switch with 4x 10Gb fiber ports a while back. 10Gb rocks for backing up and for moving files between systems.
Don't have it in my rack yet. The OS is a bit different than Cisco stuff but I really couldn't care less as it was cheap.
Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-23, 23:03:Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-05-23, 22:15:HP or Cisco or 3com from that time period were popular.
Get a managed switch.
What do you need one of those for on a home network to systems with 10-100-gigabit nics other than bragging rights?
Oh that's right you are the resident Silicon Valley network expert from the early '90s who doesn't know how to set up a 486 system.
Lmao got em
maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-05-24, 00:13:Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-23, 23:03:Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-05-23, 22:15:HP or Cisco or 3com from that time period were popular.
Get a managed switch.
What do you need one of those for on a home network to systems with 10-100-gigabit nics other than bragging rights?
Oh that's right you are the resident Silicon Valley network expert from the early '90s who doesn't know how to set up a 486 system.
Lmao got em
You arte most welcome maxtherabbit.
At least he and the Brilliant Brazilian Bito Banana Boy aren't spamming vogons anymore.
There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉
Just get any old 10/100 switch (NOT a HUB) that works, even the cheap "Fry's" special Hawking's PN205ES from around 2000 work OK (if they work). Still have one in a box 🤣
The older D-Link also work well, like a DSH-8 from about 1999-2000 (is actually a Switch, not a Hub) and have a few of those too. Just my opinion.
Yes there are better brand/models but as long as it really works at 10Mbit is all I care and many of the newer 10/100/1000 have major collision issues from 10mbit ;p
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
Horun wrote on 2021-05-24, 04:05:Just get any old 10/100 switch (NOT a HUB) that works, even the cheap "Fry's" special Hawking's PN205ES from around 2000 work OK (if they work). Still have one in a box 🤣
The older D-Link also work well, like a DSH-8 from about 1999-2000 (is actually a Switch, not a Hub) and have a few of those too. Just my opinion.
Yes there are better brand/models but as long as it really works at 10Mbit is all I care and many of the newer 10/100/1000 have major collision issues from 10mbit ;p
Yip. That's the reason I introduced a 10/100 switch into my setup.
There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉
How about these.
Maybe off topic but what I used to do for internet sharing somewhere <2004 was to set up my (then ancient) slot 7 pentium 1 PC with Linux on a 3.5" floppy with dual ISA 10base NICs. On one card I had ADSL incoming and I believe the other one was connected to a switch. Awesome to be able to connect to the internet with amazing 2,5 Mbit speed on two computers.
I was probably too poor to buy a router and it was my first attempt on Linux but I think it only ran for a year or so as I think later adsl modems (that you got for free) included router capabilities, but I can't remember.
Sadly I think all that hardware was thrown away.
Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-24, 04:21:Horun wrote on 2021-05-24, 04:05:Just get any old 10/100 switch (NOT a HUB) that works, even the cheap "Fry's" special Hawking's PN205ES from around 2000 work OK (if they work). Still have one in a box 🤣
The older D-Link also work well, like a DSH-8 from about 1999-2000 (is actually a Switch, not a Hub) and have a few of those too. Just my opinion.
Yes there are better brand/models but as long as it really works at 10Mbit is all I care and many of the newer 10/100/1000 have major collision issues from 10mbit ;pYip. That's the reason I introduced a 10/100 switch into my setup.
If those collision issues stem from the newer switches' lack of proficiency at dealing with the fact that old 10Mbps Ethernet hardware does not typically support auto-negotiation or even full duplex mode on older devices, using a cheap managed modern Gigabit switch that allows manual per-port configuration should work as well .
I guess the ultimate would be a DEC HUB 900 😀
What network protocol(s) do you plan to use with your gaming network ?
Tcp-ip ?
IPX/spx ?
Apple talk ?
Token ring ?
Netbeui ?
In '99 I upgraded f rom coax to a Netgear DS 108 hub.
Google a picture of that then have a look at Netgear's GS product range and you'll see not much has changed!
I'd say any blue Netgear switch gives you authentic look but yeh I'd recommend a switch over a hub now cost isn't a factor.
Something like a Cisco Catalyst 29xx would have been the "ultimate switch" back then. Overkill for a small home network but if your after um, period correct sex appeal?
HP, Dlink, 3Comm, Intel are the other brands that come to mind.
Personally use a 24port Dlink DES-1024 from around 2001. It wins over the Cisco's and HP's I have thanks to its on/off switch. Useful on rackmount switch's that usually have fans and your retro pcs are in the bedroom!
chinny22 wrote on 2021-05-24, 15:24:In '99 I upgraded f rom coax to a Netgear DS 108 hub. Google a picture of that then have a look at Netgear's GS product range […]
In '99 I upgraded f rom coax to a Netgear DS 108 hub.
Google a picture of that then have a look at Netgear's GS product range and you'll see not much has changed!
I'd say any blue Netgear switch gives you authentic look but yeh I'd recommend a switch over a hub now cost isn't a factor.Something like a Cisco Catalyst 29xx would have been the "ultimate switch" back then. Overkill for a small home network but if your after um, period correct sex appeal?
HP, Dlink, 3Comm, Intel are the other brands that come to mind.
Personally use a 24port Dlink DES-1024 from around 2001. It wins over the Cisco's and HP's I have thanks to its on/off switch. Useful on rackmount switch's that usually have fans and your retro pcs are in the bedroom!
Stay away from Netgear or other cheap switches. From my experience these tend to lock up and not work properly with high end network cards.
Get a good switch like HP or Cisco or Linksys. Back in 1990’s I had a 16 port HP 10/100 switch at home and it worked fine.
Joakim wrote on 2021-05-24, 07:59:Maybe off topic but what I used to do for internet sharing somewhere <2004 was to set up my (then ancient) slot 7 pentium 1 PC with Linux on a 3.5" floppy with dual ISA 10base NICs. On one card I had ADSL incoming and I believe the other one was connected to a switch. Awesome to be able to connect to the internet with amazing 2,5 Mbit speed on two computers.
I was probably too poor to buy a router and it was my first attempt on Linux but I think it only ran for a year or so as I think later adsl modems (that you got for free) included router capabilities, but I can't remember.
Actually my first router was a 486dx2-66 16MB with dual NICs connected to that 8 port+coax hub I mentioned. It was quite a nice setup running linux based FreeSCO, but I could never get any other geeks interested because they were all "ewwww SCO" despite it standing for "Free ciSCO" and nothing to do with SCO. Further into the 2000s that thing was getting hammered relentlessly with port scans and various other scriptkiddie BS... it was blocking them just fine, it was just running out of CPU time to do the routery thing... I was going to replace it with a PII box, but I think it was one of those linksys jobbies mentioned above that filled the gap for a few months, before I got a nicer Netgear WiFi router for cheap.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
I dunno if that intel one pictured is any good but at least the logo matches ones on the later half of 90s CPUs 🤣
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
BitWrangler wrote on 2021-05-24, 16:45:I dunno if that intel one pictured is any good but at least the logo matches ones on the later half of 90s CPUs 🤣
Yeah, I use to have one of those Intel switches back in the 1990’s
They have BIG GREEN LEDs in front. They put on a light show for sure.
But I dont know much about the internals or its reliability.
So I would rather go with the HP or Cisco or Linksys.
