> 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, on all points.
> and if I'm totally off about all this, what exactly is a switch, and
> how do it know where to send the stuff?
A switch operates at a lower logical level than a router, on MAC addresses
instead of IP addresses. It 'learns' which MAC addresses are attached to which
ports by seeing traffic from them, and only sends incoming traffic to a single
destination port when it can figure out which one it goes to. Otherwise, it
just acts like a slow hub (since it has to at least partially receive the packet
before deciding what to do with it).
For what you're talking about, either a switch or a hub would do just fine.
Hubs are simpler yet, they just send all packets to all ports, which can make
them faster in some circumstances. But talking to printers or the Internet,
you'll never notice the difference. And these days, the price difference is
non-existent. "Back when", switches were much more expensive and relatively
rarely used. We used hubs to do exactly what you're contemplating ... had only
one drop in each office and used a local hub when the occupant needed more
connections.
Randall
|