Editor of the printed word, Ministry of 68k Truths (mini6)
------------------
PowerCD, Mac HD 20, SE, Classic II, IIx, IIvi, PB 170, LC 475, LC 575, Quadra 650, Performa 5200, iMac 333

Editor of the printed word, Ministry of 68k Truths (mini6)
------------------
PowerCD, Mac HD 20, SE, Classic II, IIx, IIvi, PB 170, LC 475, LC 575, Quadra 650, Performa 5200, iMac 333

A hub is a device that connects a bunch of computers to the network. A router, however, is a device that connects two different types of networks together, for example The Internet to a small ethernet network, or a LocalTalk network to an ethernet network.

heh, well I'd say never get a router/switch… Those things seem to hate me [or maybe just Commslot ethernet…] but you can't get a 5xxx to work with one of those… *ethernet card light blinking…*
yea… our stinking linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL router is a piece of 80$ trash… [I get problems when i use it as a switch and dont let it near the DSL modem…]

yea, but like MacLover5 said, use A hub most definately!

Switches know where all packets are going to.
Routers have DHCP capability and *AS I RECALL* are what is required for sharing a broadband connection directly from a cable modem.

*UNLESS* you already have a shared connection with a router and/or internet gateway at the opening to the internet. (for example, the 100mbit ethernet at MacLover5's campus...

If you're coming directly from Cable, DSL or otherwise ethernet enabled residential internet, you'll probably want to ask your ISP though.

Btw, Cory, its 10Mbps, not 100.

what is ist then?!

anyway, that's because maclover5's whole campus has a switch/router/gateway somewhere in it and that gives DHCP to all the clients on it (what a router does)

Scenario (1): You're on the iMac, and you want to get files from your Q800, which you're using as a file server:

A hub would receive the request from the iMac and broadcast it to the 7100 and the Q800. The 7100 would ignore it, and the Q800 would serve up the requested files to both other computers. Once again, the 7100 would ignore the data 9this time coming from the Q800, not the iMac). As you can see, a hub can needlessly increase traffic on the network, which can become a real problem as network size grows.

A switch, by contrast, would receive the request from the iMac and transmit it only to the Q800, which would then of course serve up the files only to the iMac.

Scenario (2): You want to connect all three computers to your high-speed internet service (and of course keep all three computers connected to each other on your home network).

For this you use a router. The router sends and receives information (packets) to and from the internet (or, more accurately, your ISP). Let's say you're on the iMac and you want to navigate to a web page. The iMac sends a request for the web page. The router receives that request, then transmits it to the internet. The response comes back to the router, which then sends the response on down the line to the iMac.

In order to do its job properly, the router has to know which computer sent the request, so it can send the reponse back to the proper computer. The router does this by assigning each computer its own IP address. The router itself has a different IP address. The router's IP address is usually assigned by your ISP. This ISP-assigned IP address is the same IP address the iMac (or the 7100, or the Q800) would have if it were connected directly to the internet, as the only internet-connected computer in your house. But now the router has that IP address instead, and the router sets up a little mini-network -- invisible to your ISP and the outside world -- so it can figure out where information is coming from, and where it needs to go. This mini-network is the same exact type of network you already had in Scenario (1). The only difference is that now every computer on the network has internet access as well.

By now it should be clear that a router is basically just a switch with one special added port, which is used to connect to the internet. That's why pretty much every Cable/DSL router sold today is advertised as a "router with built-in 4-port switch" (or 2-port in some cases). In fact, a router without a built-in switch wouldn't be good for much of anything (except serving as a firewall for one computer), until you hooked up a separate switch to it.

M

No rank

quote:

---

You yourself said it was 10/100 ethernet for the campus... and that you got "T1 speeds" on the internet...

---

"**** 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

oh ya... i meant to say get a 10/100 switch too.... they're only around 30US or so...
________________
foetoid, that's (fee-toy-duh)
http://www.foetoid.doesntexist.com
da band: http://www.burningabbey.com

Oh, one more thing before I'm done. Routers use IP addresses to determine where trafic goes. (Layer 3 device) and switches and bridges use MAC addresses to get data where it needs to go (Layer 2 devices) and Hubs and repeaters just send the information along not looking at anything (Layer 1 Devices) The hubs and repeaters purpose is to re-amplify the data signal. There are Layer 3 switches which are pretty much simplified routers in a way...

ok, I'm done now...

of course some of the older macs I have run operating systems too high for their spec...

1) Get a switch if you just want the Internet on one of the computers and to share files between them.

2) Get a router/switch combo if you want all of them on the Internet.

If your school lets you have mutiple IP's, you might not even need a router.

The Lightning Stalker

Performa 631CD, 7.5.5
LC III Mail Server
Q610
Q650

6400/180 40/1.6G/512k L2/enet/video-in/TV
7600/120 '604/233, 80/1.2G & 4G, 9.2.2 (Main Mac)

if that's not the case, just pop on a $20 hub (or so) and set up as per instructions and stuff...

I wish that this thread was during the school year last year… we had a load of stuff to learn about all this… [TCP/IP, routers, switches the differences between them, yada yada; not like it was new info. but I think the teacher would be interested to see all this…]

I've just wished that I've ever had any more "deep" technology oriented classes..

68k Macintosh Liberation Army Forums

© 2001-2003 68kMLA