Hardware capture platforms

Thu Jul 31 17:04:20 UTC 2008

On Jul 31, 2008, at 12:31 PM, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 02:47:11PM -0400, Jon Kibler wrote:
>> Hubs are still available that are REAL hubs. I got 4 netgears about a
>> year ago and they are still available.
>>
>> However, there is a problem with your specification: No hub (that I  
>> am
>> aware of) can do 1Gbps. All hubs are 10/100 AFAIK.

Ok, so I guess what I am speaking is not strictly a hub, it is a non- 
learning bridge (single collision domain per port, full duplex, etc).
There used to be a bunch of devices sold like this -- there were a few  
really cheap chipsets (AFAIR, Vitesse SparX VSCsomething was one of  
them -- basically a standard switch chipset that they shaved a few  
cents off because there was no learning logic / memory) that many  
people used in cheap "hubs"... I still have some of these somewhere  
and will rip the lid off to figure out exactly what it was so I can  
get some more...

>>
>
> And, note carefully: some "dual-speed hubs" are actually a 10BT hub  
> and
> a 100BT hub *with a switch between them*.  I forget which brand I
> caught this on, but it bit me a couple of years back.
>
> Which speed cable you plug in determines which hub you're talking to.

I see your weird hub story and raise you one:

I went along to one of my wife's clients to help lug a  printer up the  
stairs... We get it on the desk and I go to plug in the Ethernet port  
-- I follow some cables and find this small white switch jammed behind  
a photocopier -- I pull it out and it has, emblazoned in large red  
letters  on the front, "10/100 Hub with Switch" -- this was back in  
the day when switches were still cool... I turn it around, and on the  
back there is... a switch, one side is marked "10M" and the other is  
marked "100M"... After I stopped laughing I tested it, and sure  
enough, its a standard hub, and you can make the ports either run at  
10Mbps or 100Mbps by flipping the switch... I *really* wish I had  
replaced and kept it...

W
>
>
> Yes, it's weird.
>
> Cheers,
> -- jra
> -- 
> Jay R. Ashworth                   Baylink                      jra at baylink.com
> Designer                     The Things I  
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