[PLUG] Home Network Hardware Choices
Richard C. Steffens
rsteff at comcast.net
Fri May 25 21:44:07 UTC 2007
I currently have a mix of 10 and 10/100 routers, switches, and hubs.
(Actually, 1 of each, and it's only the hub that is limited to 10 Mb).
I'm considering the best solution for replacing the hub. Simplest would
be a 10/100 hub, but it looks like hubs are too old school anymore.
The next simplest solution is to just get another 10/100 switch to
replace the hub. The question then, is what brands to avoid. The C-net
switch has never given me any trouble, at least none that I know of. The
Netgear Router has also been reliable. ENU has a no-brand 8-port 10/100
switch for $22, and a Trendnet 8-port 10/100 switch for $24. After that,
the speeds go up to 10/100/1000, and the price doubles.
Does anyone have experience with the no-brand from ENU, or the Trendnet?
The topology (50 cent word -- I hope I'm using it correctly!) is:
Cable Modem -> Netgear Router - both on the second floor
Netgear Router (10/100)
-> 8 port C-net Switch
-> Hub
-> Brother MFC7820N Printer
-> Wife's XP machine
C-net Switch (10/100) - in the basement
-> n/c
-> Slackware machine
-> Thinkpad 390 (Win98)
-> spare
-> n/c
-> n/c
-> n/c
-> Up link -> Netgear Router
Hub (10) - sitting on top of the router
-> n/c
-> eTower 466 (Win98)
-> n/c
-> Home made Athlon 2100 machine (SuSE 10.1)
-> Thinkpad 600e
-> spare
-> Acer Aspire Laptop (Win XP)
-> (Unavailable)
-> Up link -> Netgear Router
(The difference between n/c and spare, above, is that n/c really has no
connection while spare has a cable connected at the switch or hub, but
nothing on the other end.)
Thanks for any advice.
--
Regards,
Dick Steffens
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