[SunHELP] Network Peripherals FDDI SBus cards

[Brian Hechinger]

>> oh, the light on the back is yellow now btw.
>
> Red = driver not attached
> Yellow = driver attached but no connection
> Green = driver attached, connection is active

cool, then everything is as it should be, and i should have two green lights
(and the third FDDI card which doesn't have a light)

> All you need to know about FDDI is that it is great and Ethernet sucks even
> though it has taken over the world.  ;)  When you get the proper cabling the

Beta, Anything But Windows, the list is sadly rather long.....

> thing will just start working, all the info about monitor stations and token

this is the sort of stuff i want to hear.

> expiration and ring reversal you shouldn't need to deal with for your
> situation.

not even sure what you are talking about, my plan is to plug in cables and
things will just work, right. :)

> Technically it's closer to a MAU, but they are generally called hubs or
> concentrators - basically it's a "ring in a box" that injects and removes
> loops for the stations you plug in.  On ebay I'd just search for FDDI.  ;)

ok, after poking around looking for one on the internet (new ones all cost 
$7000-$11000 for a 12 port hub) i noticed that different people call them 
different things.  a lot of people call them hubs, but 3Com considers them 
routers, so who knows eh? :)

> 3com used to make a "multi-slice" ethernet bridge box
> called a multi-connect that you could put 4 - 8 - 12
> cards in - maybe you could find an old one on ebay and
> then some old fddi cards for that - not a switch but
> at least you'd have connectivity.

i just picked up on ebay, for a very affordable price, a 3Com LinkBuilder with
8 fiber FDDI ports, 8 UTP FDDI ports and a managment blade.  this thing is so
far advanced compared to what i need, but the possabilities are endless here.
i've seen both UTP and fiber FDDI cards available for PCI and SBus on ebay for
very affordable prices, so i could very easily get most, if not all, of my
machines to FDDI.  anyone have an FDDI PCMCIA card so i can get my laptop on
FDDI. :)

now i just need to find affordable FC/OM modules.  those things are EXPENSIVE.

thanks everyone, this is by far the best, most useful mailling list in the
world.

-brian