[TriLUG] OT: Home Depot and Cat 5

[Greg Brown]

Well, maybe not.  A "hub" is a repeater - a simple device that takes in 
an electrical signal, cleans it up, and sends it back out.  Depending 
on what you are trying to do, and in this case it seems like the 
objective is to send the signal over a greater distance, so I would 
suggest using a repeater - if you can still find one.  A switch will 
add layer 2 MAC address filtering but I really don't see why this would 
be necessary or even desired.  Besides, if the upstream device is a 
more intelligent switch, like say a Cisco 4560, the upstream switch may 
see BPDU packets originating from the switch and shut the port down 
(depending if it is configured to do so).  A repeater, however, will 
simply "scrub" the existing signal, even if it's junk, and send it 
along it's merry way.

Just my $.02.

Greg

On Oct 5, 2004, at 12:55 PM, Aaron S. Joyner wrote:

> Joseph Mack wrote:
>
>> ... For distances further than 100m, I use a hub/switch/something to 
>> reform the packets and send them on their way again.
>>
>> Joe
>>
> Do note that a traditional, old school, hub does not "reform" the 
> packets in the manner that you're attempting to do, to extend an 
> Ethernet segment.  You need to use a switch in that situation.  The 
> basic problem with a segment over 100m is not signal strength 
> (usually), it's timing.  Sometimes it's signal attenuation (i.e. 
> voltage drop on the line from one end to the other), and a hub would 
> help with that, but it's best to kill two birds with one stone, and 
> use a switch.
>
> Aaron S. Joyner
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