On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 06:46:05 GMT, "Mark Mossberg"
wrote:

John,

Boy,, If your ethernet cards use coax they are really old. I haven't seen
those in over a decade.

That type of ethernet is called "thin". I think it's 2mb per second max. If
memory serves, machines using this type of set up are indeed daisy chained
together with tees. The last one usually has a terminator cap. I don't know
for sure if TV cable will, or will not work. Seems to me that the center
conductor was much thinner than TV stuff. One things for sure, if the
impedence isn't right it won't.

Why don't you just get some PCI cards with a standard RJ45 plug. The
machines would have to be over 15 years old to not have PCI slots, in which
case you should just toss em.

It's allot easier to hook up multiple machines using a cheap hub, or switch.
Peer to peer is the easiest to set up, but requires that the "Netbui"
protocol be installed on all machines. TCPIP protocol is much more involved,
and far from automatic

Regards

Mark

TCPIP is THE way to go, whether using RJ45 or Thin-net.
Thin-net was still in fairly common use as little as 5 years ago, and
combo cards are available for PCI slots (as well as for ISA) that will
handle either co-ax or RJ45 - and they are 10mb, not 2.

For a simple "home" network of several older machines, co-ax is
definitely the simplest and cheapest. You can likely get everything
you need surplus and/or free.

Using RJ45 requires a hub or switch - which is often included in a
"router" if you want to connect to high speed internet.

Use 192.168.0.xxx for your IP addresses with the xxx ranging from 001
to 255.


"JohnM" wrote in message
om...
Can I assume I can hook comuters with various Windows OS's together with
ethernet cards and coax? If so, will a Win95 OS pretty well know what to
do assuming I can get the thing to recognize the hardware or is it going
to be a real pain to make work?

What sort of cable do these cards need? The same a TV uses by any chance?

Many thanks,

John