On Nov 16, 2004, at 1:09 PM, Lee Larson wrote:
> On Nov 16, 2004, at 12:06 PM, Jerry Yeager expostulated:
>
>> If you are running only one computer and a USB printer then I would
>> agree. But if you are running a couple of wired (ethernet) machines
>> along with several network printers along with some wireless
>> computers off of a base station that is connected to the LAN then the
>> separate switch approach makes more sense because you have a lot more
>> ports to plug things into. If you shop around the prices of switches
>> (Asante) are quite inexpensive.
>
> Since the original question was about "...a co-worker is wanting to
> hook up their Mac and PC at home using DSL..." it seems to me that a
> four-port router is more than enough. There are still ports left open
> for a printer and another device. My inclination in such situations is
> to keep it as simple as possible. The KISS approach cuts down on phone
> calls at odd hours.
>
As I also implied, if there is not a lot of equipment then that does
work well, but we were not told what else they had in mind to do with
the network (experience says they may never do anything else with it
and are completely reporting everything, but probably not because they
do not know to tell that more stuff has to be added in).
> You seem to imply there are problems plugging switches into the
> router. I hang a 15 port Dell 10/100 switch off my four-port NetGear
> wireless router and see no problems with the arrangement. Five or more
> years ago, when the 10/100 switches were just starting to become
> really common, there were a few problems stacking devices from
> different manufacturers. These days, I've read several articles about
> how the engineers have made them all talk the same (Cisco?) dialect.
>
What you are describing in your approach is very similar to the one I
suggested (with a bigger switch). But there are still problems being
reported. I have also read that the manufacturers are supposed to all
be using the same dialects, but have seen that these things do not
always work when you plug one box into the uplink port of another box,
or upgrade the firmware on one device only to suddenly have it quit
talking to the other (router to switch).
Jerry
>
>
>
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