4 ms·

I remember helping out at my elementary school, where we had LocalTalk (RS422 with upstream and downstream cabling using special self-terminating adapters) and

by Gracana 11y ago

I remember helping out at my elementary school, where we had LocalTalk (RS422 with upstream and downstream cabling using special self-terminating adapters) and thinnet, with a Power Macintosh 5200 (or something similar) as a bridge in between. It ran fairly well, but troubleshooting issues on bus networks was tricky.

zdw 11y ago
The even cheaper version of LocalTalk was Farallon's PhoneNet, which used cheap and available RJ11 phone cables rather than the more expensive Apple DB-3 connectors, and a terminator on each end that was basically a resistor crimped into an RJ11.
- Gracana 11y ago
  Yeah, I think that's the one we used. I definitely remember the RJ11 cabling.
- furyg3 11y ago
  Whoa, nostalgia flashback: most of the school libraries in my area had a phone-net setup, they looked like this: http://www.oldmac.de/uploads/images/netzwerk/netzwerk03.jpg http://www.oldmac.de/uploads/images/netzwerk/netzwerk03.jpg I had an injury in high school that pushed me out of PE class and into the library, where instead of sorting books I helped the librarian with the macs. The newer macs had ethernet, the older one's had AppleTalk over PhoneNet. I set up a bridge on one of the newer Macs (OpenTransport) to route TCP/IP from the Appletalk network to the ethernet network so that the older machines could get online. This meant that the school could get more computers internet access instead of waiting until they had newer machines. So many struggles, so much fun, totally inspired me to keep building technical things. I also met my best friend to this day on this project.
- Avernar 11y ago
  So that was what the classroom networks in highschool were. The PCs had cards with the two RJ11 connectors and I remember the terminators that the troublemakers would loosen. The backbone network and teachers network were token ring. Those connectors were huge.
  - dfox 11y ago
    That could as well be ARCNet which in addition to coax also supported single-pair Cat3 cables. From ARCnet cars I've seen I assume that pair of RJ11's was standard connector for that.
- analog31 11y ago
  I actually ran PhoneNet over my phone lines in my apartment, since it used the two wires that aren't used by the phone. That seemed like a good idea until a thunderstorm took out my laser printer and the serial port on my Mac. Luckily, I was able to repair the Mac, but the printer was toast. So far as I know, nobody used Apple's cabling. A well kept secret, Apple sold an AppleTalk adapter for the PC, that worked great.

by Gracana 11y ago

zdw 11y ago

The even cheaper version of LocalTalk was Farallon's PhoneNet, which used cheap and available RJ11 phone cables rather than the more expensive Apple DB-3 connectors, and a terminator on each end that was basically a resistor crimped into an RJ11.

Gracana 11y ago
Yeah, I think that's the one we used. I definitely remember the RJ11 cabling.
furyg3 11y ago
Whoa, nostalgia flashback: most of the school libraries in my area had a phone-net setup, they looked like this: http://www.oldmac.de/uploads/images/netzwerk/netzwerk03.jpg http://www.oldmac.de/uploads/images/netzwerk/netzwerk03.jpg I had an injury in high school that pushed me out of PE class and into the library, where instead of sorting books I helped the librarian with the macs. The newer macs had ethernet, the older one's had AppleTalk over PhoneNet. I set up a bridge on one of the newer Macs (OpenTransport) to route TCP/IP from the Appletalk network to the ethernet network so that the older machines could get online. This meant that the school could get more computers internet access instead of waiting until they had newer machines. So many struggles, so much fun, totally inspired me to keep building technical things. I also met my best friend to this day on this project.
Avernar 11y ago
So that was what the classroom networks in highschool were. The PCs had cards with the two RJ11 connectors and I remember the terminators that the troublemakers would loosen. The backbone network and teachers network were token ring. Those connectors were huge.
- dfox 11y ago
  That could as well be ARCNet which in addition to coax also supported single-pair Cat3 cables. From ARCnet cars I've seen I assume that pair of RJ11's was standard connector for that.
analog31 11y ago
I actually ran PhoneNet over my phone lines in my apartment, since it used the two wires that aren't used by the phone. That seemed like a good idea until a thunderstorm took out my laser printer and the serial port on my Mac. Luckily, I was able to repair the Mac, but the printer was toast. So far as I know, nobody used Apple's cabling. A well kept secret, Apple sold an AppleTalk adapter for the PC, that worked great.