Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

On Fri, 7 May 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:

> My partner said nobody is using coax any more.

I disagree.  I would say "few people use coax anymore."  Contrary to what
Steven suggested, I find UTP cable to be alot more readily available (read
free, throwaway) than coax.  I think coax networks were generally replaced
in the US quite a few years ago, so the free cable era for coax has
already sort of come to a close.  But with wireless networks replacing
wired, general network upgrades and the American spirit of waste and
overconsumption, there seems to be plenty of free UTP floating around.

> Other than loading the correct NIC module, what else does one do to
> transfer files via a network card?  For plip you had to type in five lines
> carefully, the last one different at each end.  Is there a BL FAQ?

Steven's got a point-to-point over ethernet scheme already set up in BL.
It's for just two machines, so if you have more, you'll need to do a bit
more setup.  Like he mentioned, it's laid out in /root/netsetup.  I
discussed BL networking alot onlist over the last couple of years, so if
you search the archive, you'll find lots of help.  I started out from a
really basic level of understanding, so the stuff should be fairly
newbie-friendly.

On Fri, 7 May 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:

> It seems like anything would work so long as I have the correct cable,
> and both ends should have the same connector.  Even the 10base2 would be
> sufficient to run a connection to the next block (120 meters).
> We have no way to get the cable under the street surface and the nasty
> neighbor across the street cut our phone wire when we went between blocks
> above ground in someone else's yard than hers.

I've read something about the effective limit of UTP being 300 feet.  But
I've also read about people who have exceeded that limit by quite a bit
(to 900 ft, if memory serves).  I think there are slight speed penalties
with those longer runs.  You could also try wireless for that run.  I
inherited an old PDA that has an infrared device for syncing that attaches
to a serial port.  There should be alot of these infrared-to-serial
thingies available, since the trend now is to sync PDA's via USB.  If you
had 2 such, a clear line of sight between the two locations and good
weather conditions, a wireless link of approximately 56k modem speed could
be established.  I don't really know how feasible this is, having never
tried it: I just have such things in mind since I've inherited this
infrared device and have been wondering how to use it.

James