[RndTbl] Really old MTS Internet drop?

Gilbert E. Detillieux gedetil at cs.umanitoba.ca
Wed Feb 5 11:18:32 CST 2014


On 05/02/2014 10:59 AM, Hartmut W Sager wrote:
> I do consider it quite possible that this is simply a 10Base-2 NIC, and
> that MTS supplied such NIC's at one time (to match some ancient DSL
> modem), even though I don't distinctly remember this from my MTS past.

While I'd have no trouble believing MTS supplied 10-Base-2/T combo cards 
in the early days, I'd have trouble believing their early DSL modems 
actually used coax only.  But that could be the case.  (I'd say you'd 
have to go back quite a bit more than a decade, though.)

> A hub isn't needed - 10Base-2 has all the stations (computers, etc.)
> along a linear cable with T-connectors at each of them, even the two end
> units, and a terminating resistor on the otherwise open-ended
> T-connector at each of the two ends.
>
> Man, I hated wiring the connectors onto those 10Base-2 cables!  Anyone
> out there old enough to have handled the even older 10Base-5 stuff?  You
> gotta love RJ-45!

Ah, memories!...  In my first few years in my current jobs (almost 25 
years ago now), I did work with some (inherited) 10Base-5 nodes, with 
the old external transceivers and stinger taps.  I don't remember having 
to actually install one myself, however.

We did run 10Base-2 thin coax for a number of years, and I did install a 
number of external transceivers on that, as well as BNC T connectors for 
interfaces with internal transceivers.  This would include running a 
temporary bypass cable (which we affectionately called the "hyper-space 
bypass") between two points, so that we could splice into a section of 
previously "live" cable to install new connectors for new drops.  We got 
comfortable enough with doing this that we could add new drops on a wire 
without anyone on that segment even noticing an outage (except for maybe 
in the room where we were working, which was being bypassed).

Fun stuff...  I don't miss it at all, though.  :)

Gilbert

> On 5 February 2014 09:50, Colin Stanners <cstanners at gmail.com
> <mailto:cstanners at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Likely: PC TV-capture card, or they're really confusing an ethernet
>     cable.
>     Very unlikely: ancient 10base-2 NIC to a hub somewhere with their
>     DSL modem.
>
>
>     On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 8:40 AM, Kevin McGregor
>     <kevin.a.mcgregor at gmail.com <mailto:kevin.a.mcgregor at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         Friends of my parents have had MTS Internet service for a decade
>         or more (probably more).
>
>         They told me that they have a coax cable in the room with their
>         computer (an IBM Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, to give you an idea of the
>         age of this setup; they had MTS Internet service before that in
>         an older computer) AND that this coax cable plugs directly into
>         their PC.Has anyone seen this sort of setup? I didn't look at it
>         myself; this is just what I got from them over the phone just now.
>
>         Are they mistaken, or did MTS in the past provide a PC card with
>         a coax connector for Internet access? It's possible that they
>         didn't recognize an Ethernet cable, but I did explicitly ask if
>         it was connected to the computer with a screw-on type connector
>         which they confirmed it was.
>
>         Kevin


-- 
Gilbert E. Detillieux		E-mail: <gedetil at muug.mb.ca>
Manitoba UNIX User Group	Web:	http://www.muug.mb.ca/
PO Box 130 St-Boniface		Phone:  (204)474-8161
Winnipeg MB CANADA  R2H 3B4	Fax:    (204)474-7609


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