From: davidme@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au (David Meiklejohn)
Subject: Re: Technically feasible Amiga
Organization: Qld Dept Primary Industries
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 03:21:21 GMT

In article <36671@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes:
>In article <mN9iTB1w164w@cellar.org> swinokur@cellar.org (Steve Winokur) writes:
>>grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) writes:
>
>>> >     4 - Thin-wire ethernet standard in all Amigas.  
>
>>> Sure that one wasn't twisted pair?  
>
>The real problem with such a device is, as George suggests, the medium.  That
>part directly implements 10-Base-T, the twisted-pair version of Ethernet.  This
>isn't the point to point thin-wire (10-Base-2) that lets you hook computers
>together.  10-Base-T is a star configuration -- a number of machines hook into
>individual 10-Base-T ports on a hub.  You can't use it to hook a few systems
>directly together.  It's useful if you're in a new building with 10-Base-T
>wiring pre-installed in the walls, but not useful for what the majority of
>Amiga users want in a network -- point to point peer connections.

We've found 10BaseT to be very useful in network installations in pre-existing
buildings where there is no suitable cable in place, since it still has some
advantages over coax.  It's also quite handy where, for example, I've installed
an RJ45 outlet in a conference room here, and, when I run a course and set up
some computers there, all I have to do is grab a spare hub, lay it on the
floor, plug it into the UTP outlet in the wall, and run cables to each PC.
Quick and dirty and much easier than trying to do that sort of thing with coax.

As for cheap Amiga networking, if you're talking 4 or 5 Amigas, you'll find
that the cost of a basic 8-port 10BT hub to interconnect them isn't too great,
as in $400 or so.  Now, sure, that's more than draping coax between them, but
compared to the cost of the computers, it's fairly minor.

As to being peer to peer, the physical hardware for interconnection is
irrelevant as far as higher-level networking protocols go - Ethernet is
Ethernet.

>>Seriously, the lack of native networking on Amigas is a serious flaw.  
>
>Agreed.  But the wrong networking would also be a serious flaw.

It's a problem.  Personally, I think that any sort of network interface
would be a mistake at the A1200 or below level.  At the high end, including
a 10BaseT interface would be nice - those who need coax could buy a
transceiver.  But, to make that really worthwhile, you'd need some sort of
network support in the OS.  But, just what sort, I don't know.  Maybe it's
a bad idea.  Some people would want AmigaOS to support plug-'n-play peer to
peer networking.  But, that would be wasted on me - I'd never use it.  I'd
like to be able to bring my Amiga into work and plug it into the lan, which
in our case is NFS.  Others would want to be Novell clients.  The other thing
is that AmigaOS is not Windows NT, and I don't want to see it swollen with
features that a lot of us won't use.


-- 
David Meiklejohn (also known as davidme@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au)
 - Regional support guy for PC's, Unix, and networks thereof.
 - But I'd rather be using an AMIGA!  Wouldn't you?
Find me in Mareeba, Australia (on the pointy bit in the northeast)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware