2 Aug
1998
2 Aug
'98
2:37 p.m.
I don't shun it. I think the problem is
identifying just what the hell
all these random CSUs, modems, MUXes, etc. are. So even if you could
identify it, then what? Another problem is finding any documentation for
this stuff to put it back to good use. If you did know what you were
looking at (I can't even identify most of the communcations equipment out
there its so old) then maybe you'd have a chance. But your garden variety
collector/preservationist wouldn't know the first thing about the stuff.
I would think that most of the old standards are floating around on the
net these days, probably at .edu sites. Most of the boxes have some brains
to them, so many times you will not be confronted by a bunch of
unmarked/confusing controls. From there, fiddle until the alarms go away.
As for fixing datacom equipment, there may be no need. The stuff tends to
be built very well - far better than most industrial stuff, and magnitudes
better than the comsumer stuff. 100% service, 24 by 7 by 365!
Now I am not saying that the stuff NEVER breaks...
That would be great. However, if the simplest
ethernet (coax) is 10Mbps,
why settle for 1.544Mbps and the hassle to bring such a link online, not
to mention its interface limitations?
Put a few boxes on a 10base2 segment, start them all talking, and you will
see that 10 Mbps go away fast. Have a CSU/router on each end and you will
use just about every bit in that 1.544 Mbps.
Anyway, what is hard about getting a back to back T1 up? B8ZS is your
friend.
I collect older datacom equipment such as modems when
I find them, but
generally skip over the CSU/DSUs and MUXes as uninteresing. BTW, there is
a non-profit organization (musuem) that preserves old datacom equipment.
RCS/RI tends to get all of the datacom scrap from the former ANSnet. Our
stack of Cylinks is growing at an alarming rate.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net