Twisted pair (StarLan) to ThinNet

[John Breeden]

In article <430 at venice.SEDD.TRW.COM> greene at venice.sedd.trw.com (John Greene) 
writes:
>
>First thing is that you are mixing two different things here.  Literally, you
>can bridge between ThinNet and StarLan using a Mac Layer Bridge such as made
>by Retix.  StarLan is a 1 MegaBit/Sec twisted pair network.  
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT STARLAN PRODUCTS!!!!! Starlan1 is 1mb ethernet. It is
IEEE/1baseT and yes, you can bridge it - HP also makes a 10:1 bridge.  AT&T 
OEMs it as the Starlan 10:1 bridge.

AT&T ALSO makes Starlan10. It is designed in complience with the 10baseT
draft, as is UB and HP's TP products - and all three will "plug-and-play"
in the same network. All three will work in a netork based on the current
draft and will therefore work if the current draft becomes the standard.
(and it looks like it will). 

>The Synoptics stuff is an implementation of 10 MBit/sec twisted pair which 
>is in the process of being standardized as 10baseT.  

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. Synoptic's Lattisnet IS NOT EVEN CLOSE to what the
10baseT committee is standardizing on! It is a PROPRIATERY protocol. If
you want to convert a Lattisnet network to 10baseT you will need to name
all your Lattisnet cards Frisby and replace them with Synoptic's 10baseT
cards (Fork Lift Upgrade).

It is closer to what AT&T, UB and HP have been shipping for two years. If the
current draft becomes the standard, AT&Ts, UBs and HPs product will conform
and work as is WITHOUT HAVING TO DO ANY "MIGRATION" (ie: No Fork Lift Upgrade).
You WILL NOT get that with Synoptics.

>I think that StarLan carries a standard of 1base5 (I think).  

Try IEEE 802.3/1baseT for Starlan1 and IEEE 802.3/10baseT for Starlan10,
there is no 1base5.

>It's been five years since I messed with any of this stuff. 
>

No kidding.

>In short, No, Synoptics is not the same as StarLan.  Unless it is their series
>3000 stuff, it's not 10baseT either.

You are right - it ain't 1baseT OR 10baseT, and that's both the Synoptics
1000 AND 3000 series if you buy Lattisnet cards. Synoptics has ANNOUNCED
10baseT cards for the 3000 series - but I have no idea if they are shipping
them yet. 

There was a 10baseT intervendor demonstration at Interop this year and 
Synoptics didn't participate. There has been conflicting press on 
this - whether Synoptics wasn't invited (so says Synoptics) or whether
they refused (so says everyone else).


 John Robert Breeden, 
 INTERNET:jbreeden at netcom.uucp, UUCP:apple!netcom!jbreeden, ATTMAIL:!jbreeden
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from. If 
  you don't like any of them, you just wait for next year's model."

-- 
 John Robert Breeden, 
 INTERNET:jbreeden at netcom.uucp, UUCP:apple!netcom!jbreeden, ATTMAIL:!jbreeden
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from. If 
  you don't like any of them, you just wait for next year's model."