I have a imac 9.2 want to network it can i use any ethernet hub, or does it have to be for a mac.

Hubs don't care what operating system you use.

thanks for the info

You're welcome

Actually- the real guts of the matter are basically that the Ethernet protocol itself doesn't care about operating systems; you can have computers running many different operating systems accessing the Internet through one Ethernet network.

(of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that those computers can talk to each other without some tweaking, but that's a higher-level protocol issue.)

Hello,

Just be sure to look at the ports on your hub. Some of them have an UPLINK port, which is designed for HUB to Hub connections. Of the hubs that I seen with said port, the one immediately next to it is often "dead".

Check out the specs if something goes fishy.

Christian

In my experience, UPLINK is the port designed for connections to the outsideworld...

Hi,

You can have a cascade of hubs connected via their uplink ports.

ASCII ART TIME


Uplink ports are nothing more than "built in" crossover connections. You take a normal hub port, and place it into a connection of an Uplink port on a different hub upstream.

Thou shalt not:

* Connect 2 hubs together via normal ports and normal wires
* Connect a hub and a computer together via uplink port and normal wire
* Use uplink ports and crossover cables

It is bad networking practice to have more than one or two uplink ports in the chain between the PC and the "route out", because all of the traffic of that hub is being supplied by that one uplink port. Performance can fall apart in a hurry.

In most office environments, little hubs can be used at the user's desk to avoid the expense of running wires through the walls. You would connect the little hub to the main system via the uplink port, and have the user's computer and perhaps laptop wired into the system via the remaining ports.

What you don't want to see is a hub in the cube, uplinked to a hub for the department, uplinked to a hub for the floor, uplinked to a hub in another closet, uplinked to the main computer room.

Christian

Hmm... sounds to me like you're saying that because you have seen it. :mrgreen:


Seriously though- all good advice there, and yes- "upstream" is a better term that "outside world". Hubs should be devices internal to your LAN; they should never be used as your gateway to any outside world, as they offer absolutely no protection in terms of firewalling, etc. for the computers connected to them.

Absolutely, a very poor choice of words on my part. I've never connected a hub to another hub simply because of fears of speed and packet degredation. I didn't mean to imply that it could not be done, I just wanted to point out that the 'uplink' port wasn't simply for hub<->hub.. That, as noted by others, it replaces the need to have a crossover cable to hook the hub "upstream" (a much better word, sorry about that..).

There are times that you will want to connect one hub to another hub -- packet sniffing -- is one reason that I have done it. Hook in the computer you want to sniff on one side... the connection to the network on the other end, and a packet sniffer in the middle. Note that for packet sniffing, you cannot use a switch!

And DMR, yeah, have seen it too many times. Also punch blocks where the BOZO let the twists out of the ethernet cables, and we had some pairs over 12" long with no twists in them at all. Then they wonder why the network fails.

The hammer of knowledge did educate on that day.

Christian