Age-old ethernet equipment

This weekend, along with a batch of PS/2s, I received a 3Com 3c588 1988 vintage MultiConnect Repeater. It's a 19" case with space for sixteen cards. Mine features one card indicating power with a green LED as well as a DB-9 female connector, then fourteen cards equipped with a BNC connector, an activity led, one partition LED and a partition/reset switch each. Whenever a card is connected to a 10b2 network, the partition light (which otherwise emits a steady red light) begins to flicker. Upon flicking the switch into reset mode, the partition light goes out. The network works fine as long as there is no partitioning. I suppose its purpose is to not leak traffic between several networks. But there still are some things I'd like to find out. What is the purpose of the DB-9 connector? Could this repeater slow a network down? What does partitioning actually entail? Does anyone have any other cards for this beast? I know there are 10bT cards as well. -- En ligne avec Thor 2.6a. Ecco a voi la sigla di Lupin III in francese... ma... aspettate... qualcosa non quadra...cos'e' questa roba! Holly e Benji? ahahah... povero cantante... gli hanno messo sotto la base sbagliata!!! Tacchan undrar varf?r Captain Tsubasa p? franska har samma ackompanjemang som Lupin III p? italienska