Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!s.cs.uiuc.edu!meyer From: meyer@s.cs.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Broadband Cards - what are they Message-ID: <213400051@s.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 14 Aug 89 15:23:00 GMT References: <111700133@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> Lines: 24 Nf-ID: #R:uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:111700133:s.cs.uiuc.edu:213400051:000:1298 Nf-From: s.cs.uiuc.edu!meyer Aug 14 10:23:00 1989 I'm not so sure that IBM doesn't still make the broadband cards for AT class machines. Last summer we refitted our machines with the newest adapters from IBM, called the PC Network Adapter II. (The MCA version of this card is the PC Network Adapter II/A) Broadband networks are NOT interchangeable with ethernet and acrnet-type networks. The token ring network is much more compatible with ethernet networks than broadband systems, the difference being that the carrier is "modulated" on broadband, and is not on baseband - or token ring. As far as availability, they *SHOULD* still be available from IBM via their direct order system. It is listed in the last equipment brochure I received from them. However, if you're looking for the original model, you are out of luck as far as new equipment goes. You're probably better off going with the new adapters - they will work with the old ones, and they operate 200-300% faster. One caveat, with the new adapters, you will also have to acquire the IBM LAN Support Program, which is the set of device drivers to operate the card. The old card had this in ROM, but the new cards do not - I understand for reasons of flexibility. Don Meyer University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign meyer@s.cs.uiuc.edu College of Agriculture