Why are new Suns thick Ethernet only

[F. L. Charles Seeger III]

In article <10217 at orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> rudolf at oce.orst.edu (Jim Rudolf) writes:
|X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 271, message 13 of 18
|
|We were introduced to the new Sun products last week, and I was surprised
|to find that all new CPUs will only have thick Ethernet connectors....
|Can anyone clue me in to the reason why Sun chose to go this way?
|I'm clueless.

I was told that it was because Sun wanted these machines to eventually be
certified as FCC Class B compliant for RF emissions.  Sort of indicates
that they want to get into the PC market, I guess.  Nevertheless, this is
a major pain in the butt for most of their existing sites.  It will cost
about $200 extra per station to attach to the net.  If they haven't fixed
their damnable connectors, it will be even worse.  Wish I could trade the
audio port for a built-in thin-net tranceiver.  [Before anyone asks, the
WD Ethernet card, for example, only has a Class A rating; I presume that
is typical of PC cards with both connector types.]  They did a good job of
moving local disks inside the box, but then screwed up by requiring an
external, clutter-producing tranceiver.  A much cleaner design would have
allowed for an optional internal tranceiver.

BTW, I had a real brainstorm when I learned of this situation a few weeks
ago.  To wit, attach the transceiver directly to the AUI connector on the
back of the cpu (i.e. with no intervening cable).  This is sort of
feasible if there is enough clearance around the connector, which I don't
think is the case on the new Sun desktops, anyway.  The connector isn't
strong enough to hold the box reliably, though.  [mv brainstorm /dev/null]

BTWbis, does anyone know of a source of short AUI cables, say about 1m?
All I have found are multiples of 5m.  Is there some technical reason for
that?

Regards,
Chuck
--
  Charles Seeger            216 Larsen Hall             +1 904 392 8935
  Electrical Engineering    University of Florida       Just say NO to
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