NICS, HUBS and switches.

[dogbert at clue4all.net (Brian J. Conway)]

> Just a question. I plan to upgrade my home network to 100 baseT which will
> require a new hub, and at least 1 new NIC.  The question is can a 100Mbit
> hub support 100Mbits between 2 100Mbit NICS when one or both of the other
> hub ports are connected to a 10Mb NIC. Or will just the connection to a
> 10Mbit NIC cause the entire network to run at 10. The issue is that the

Yes.

> Alpha has an on-board 10Mbit NIC and another computer is idle most of the
> time.  I know I can do this with a switch, but that is an overkill.

I wouldn't really call it overkill.  If you walk into a local CompUSA,
you can find a SohoWare 10/100 autosensing switch for about 90 bucks,
whereas their 10/100 autosensing hub model is about 70 (5 ports on
both).  Pick up a couple according to your needs and you'll be set. 
Certainly can't beat the throughput.

Brian J. Conway
dogbert at clue4all.net
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