22 Mar
2001
22 Mar
'01
5:33 a.m.
Certainly that is one interpretation. I would quote
the page if I have it
in front of me. My impression is that the electronics were detachable from
the plastic and metal part that was the actual tap. The boxes I have do
allow separating the media portion from the box portion with two screws. I
will see about pictures when I can next get to the device (Monday, at the
earliest).
Since you do have a collection of older network hardware, I will conclude
that what I initially described, if it did exist in that form, was not
common, or it would have seemed familiar to you.
Aaaack, and phoo. I just dug out three of them, wrote a nice bit, and had a
computer crash.
Short answer is that I have three boxes now sitting on my desk; digital
DESTA, 3Com, and Cabletron, and they use a interchangible TAP that fits in
the top of the unit. I have three kinds of TAP between them, a single BNC,
a BNC T, and a N T. The TAP fits into the top of the unit making contact
via 3 long pins that fit into a board edge header, and get secured via 2
screws through the front of the base unit.
Leaving the TAP bottom open with the pins just sticking out doesn't sound
very reasonable, but who am I to say it isn't. Maybe there is some kind of
TAP cover for when the base removed? All three boxes have a AUI on the
side. The digital and 3com a single LED, and the Cabletron a LanView set of
5 pwr, sqe, xmit, rcv, cln.
Yes mine also say 802.3
My guess is that other variations exist, ie a vampire tap, that would be
compatible with the lower units.