On Aug 21, 2005, at 2:46 PM, scott.hall@comcast.net wrote:
>
>
> sooo...is the switch roughly analogous to a cable splitter in that I
> can connect a switch to a router port and then run two lines off the
> switch to two printers? or even three? and if I can do that, can I
> just skip running another cat-5 line through the attic and just run it
> off the outet in this room?
Yes. More specifically, a *hub* is analagous to a cable splitter. A
switch is a smart hub. A 100Mb hub has 100Mb of bandwidth to share
amongst all the ports. 4 chatty devices get 25Mb each. A switch has
100Mb for each port. If you share lots of files between devices, get a
swich. If the switch is silly cheap, get it anyway.
>
> can I:
> coax-->cable modem-->router--> 1 & 2
> where
> 1. three individual cat-5 lines through attic-->individual
> computers/printers
> 2. switch-->two individual cat-5 lines through attic-->individual
> devices
Yes. Switches & hubs need a 110V power supply.
>
> and if I can do that, what's to stop me from (in theory) just running
> one cat-5 line to each room, then a switch in each room connecting to
> the networked stuff?
Your lack of experience :-)
That's the way it should be done. Trunks to each room, then branch out
to individual devices from there. Branching out can be done via a
hub/switch or a multi-port wall jack, or wireless.
>
> and if I'm totally off about all this, what exactly is a switch, and
> how do it know where to send the stuff? how's it different from a
> router? googling makes it seem like just a simpler/dumber version of
> a router.
Think of it like cars and roads. A hub is like an uncontrolled rotary
(or roundabout). Everyone is equal. No one can enter the rotary until
there's room. If someone tries to enter the rotary while there's
already traffic in the rotary, you get a collision (a real networking
term for when two devices try to speak at once). These are relatively
slow, especially during rush hour.
With a switch, everyone gets their own virtual path through the rotary.
If I want to go to your house and bring back a hammer, I shout to the
world "Where's Scott?", and you hear me and answer "Spoke number
three!". I then get my own path to spoke #3. I have my own road with no
one else on it (except you, if I've stolen it and you have to chase me
down). I can go as fast as my car will go.
With a router, there's usually lots of mixed traffic, with boats,
planes, pedestrians, and/or there are rules for who can go where. The
router stores maps that tell me how to get where I want to go. If I
want to walk to your house but you live on an island, I walk to the
router, the router will figure out where you live, make sure I'm
allowed there, set me up with a boat and off I go (just like the cable
modem changes cable signals to ethernet signals - you could buy an
expensive router that would take the place of your cable modem and
cheap router). Reverse that for when I go home.
The past 5 years have seen switches doing many, but not all, router
tasks. Switches are faster than routers because there's less overhead.
Routers are usually border devices for security and signal translation.
You'll be fine with a cheap switch.
jim
|