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From: pdb@sei.cmu.edu (Patrick Barron)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Thinwire Ethernet cable lengths
Message-ID: <1928@aw.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: Sat, 18-Jul-87 01:04:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: aw.1928
Posted: Sat Jul 18 01:04:44 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jul-87 19:02:24 EDT
References: <1926@aw.sei.cmu.edu>
Sender: netnews@sei.cmu.edu
Reply-To: pdb@sei.cmu.edu (Pat Barron)
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, SEI, Pgh, Pa
Lines: 17

In article <1926@aw.sei.cmu.edu> I wrote:
>We're trying to install a thinwire Ethernet, using DEC DESTAs to attach
>stations to the network.  My question is:  is there a minimum distance
>between stations with the DESTA?  With 6 foot cable runs between stations,
>I see a lot of dropped packets, and TCP does a *lot* of re-transmission.
>With a 20 foot cable, I don't seem to have much of a problem.

Well, after more experimentation, it doesn't seem to be a problem with
cable length at all.  It turned out that the 6 foot cable I was using
was just plain bad.  We had never really thought to suspect the cable
itself, since it was sent to us by a vendor (who shall, for the moment,
remain nameless) as a "sample"!

So, that little problem appears to be solved.  I would still like to
see any comments people might have about the DESTA in general, though.

--Pat.