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Topic |
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
 Posted - 29 Jun 2003 : 06:52:39
What's the longest cable length of phone cable that can be used on a PhoneNET network? Just wondering, because yesterday i went to connect my PB1400, which is upstairs, to my LocalTalk network, which is downstairs with a 10 metre cable, and it took a fair bit of fiddling around to get the PB to see the PowerMac 8100, which is at the other terminated end of the PhoneNet network, which was i believe about 20m of cable in total between the 1400 and the PowerMac.I know this concerns PPCs, but seeing as though LocalTalk is mainly used on 68ks, plus the fact that I had my LC630 running as a LocalTalk bridge, well....you get the idea.  "**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective 
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
G4from128k
Full Member
USA
873 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2003 : 07:08:28
Maximium length for phonenet depends on the gauge of the wire. For the 26 gauge wire common in phone line extension cord, the max length is 1800 feet (about 550 m). For thicker 22 gauge wire used for in-the-wall phone wiring, the max length is 4500 feet (about 1400 m).Two possible causes for needing "a fair bit of fiddling around" come to mind. First, I've noticed that some of my Macs running 7.1 and 7.5 can be a bit finicky on connecting to phonenet, seeing other machines and being seen by other machines. Usually, a reboot clears things up. Second, you might be running your phonenet cable near a source of interference (like a computer being run with its case/shielding removed or a cordless phone). Easiest/funnest way to check is to use a small AM radio (not FM radio) that is tuned to a station and then walk along the phonenet cord while the cord is NOT connected to the computers. AM radio is very susceptable to interference so when the radio approaches a strong source of interference, the station will be obliterated by the interference and you will hear nothing except maybe a loud buzzing sound on the AM radio. G4From128k by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2003 : 07:20:57
Interesting. I checked for sources of interference, and everything was fine. As for networking older and newer Macs, I never seem to have a problem with this. As a matter of fact, one time i loaded up my Classic II with System 6.0.8L, connected it to the LC630, which i use as a LocalTalk -> ethernet bridge, and it worked as a small server fine when being accessed from my iMac! How's that for compatibility! Of course, i could've also gone the other way, but then i'd have to *gasp* boot into OS 9, due to Apple's unwillingness to fix the borked AppleTalk implementation in X."**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
G4from128k
Full Member
USA
873 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2003 : 07:48:48
quote:
I checked for sources of interference, and everything was fine.
Perhaps you had a leak. Did you check for a big pool of spilled packets in the basement?The types of weirdness that I've seen is always some strange combination of who can see whom. I had on gremlin episode where a G4(OS 9) could see both a PB 190cs (7.5.3) and an Outbound Notebook (7.1); the PB 190cs could see the G4; the Outbound could see the G4; but PB190 could NOT see the Outbound and the Outbound could NOT see the PB190. Its always weird stuff like that for me. G4From128k by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2003 : 17:29:02
quote:
Did you check for a big pool of spilled packets in the basement?
Oh, no, forgot about that! *Leaves computer room, goes to where the cable was strung, screams of horror are heard by the whole neighbourhood, and ML5 is never seen again, buried in a big pool of A/UX and image files* 
"**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
tmtomh
Junior Member
USA
172 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2003 : 19:53:00
quote:
The types of weirdness that I've seen is always some strange combination of who can see whom. I had on gremlin episode where a G4(OS 9) could see both a PB 190cs (7.5.3) and an Outbound Notebook (7.1); the PB 190cs could see the G4; the Outbound could see the G4; but PB190 could NOT see the Outbound and the Outbound could NOT see the PB190. Its always weird stuff like that for me.
Not to get too far afield here, but I had similar gremlin-ness just today, when one Mystic CC on my network could connect to other Macs, but my other Mystic couldn't. Both Mystics had identical OS installations (one was copied over from the other in fact). To make things stranger, the router's hardware lights showed both connected, but the Web-based router configuration manager only showed one connected. After checking all configurations on both Mystics, it turned out that while TCP/IP was active on both, the non-connecting one had the "make active only when needed" box checked. Unchecking that box -- and therefore making TCP/IP always active -- solved the problem. It seems that the ethernet extension properly negotiated with the router when the Mystic was started up, but on the software side the router needed TCP/IP to be active very early on in the startup process in order to detect the Mystic properly. And as far as the Mystic was concerned, TCP/IP was only "needed" when the Mystic was asked to initiate a connection. Anyway, that's my story of networking gremlins. M No rank Permanent 68k roommates:
- "PowerMystic" Color Classic, 66MHz PPC601 card, full '040, 36/1.2G/enet, OS 8.1
- "Mystic" Color Classic, full '040, 36/700/enet, OS 8.1
- Q605 overclocked to 33MHz, full '040, 36/1.2G/enet, 8.1, Debian Woody |
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PhoneNet cable length
68k of the Week: kastegir's PowerBook 180.