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10BASE2 over RG59/RG6

J

JAXVintagePC

Experienced Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2023
Messages
107
Location
JAX, FL
When we moved into our new home last year I converted the CAT3 station wire that was used for the telephone lines (house was built in 2000) (rated for 10MBPS 10BASET) to ethernet. We now run 1GBIT on most segments except for one from the living room to a bonus room above the garage that is limited to 100MBIT. That was a fun experiment. Each room that wants to use ethernet has a switch since the telephone wiring was daisy chained (and stapled into studs) as was the standard back then.

I also successfully used MOCA on RG59/RG6 that is installed in the house (and stapled into studs).

A successful and interesting experiment is that I can connect modern and vintage PCs using the same RG59/RG6 cables in the walls for 10BASE2 using F-connector to BNC couplers. With 50OHM terminators it still works on the 75OHM rated cable. And with some Accton HUBs that have both 10BASE2 and 10BASET I can bridge to 10MPBS with modern PCs without an issue.

It was also a relatively cheap experiment since these parts are cheap. Plus it is esthetically a lot better than a super long BNC cable I purchased for $5 at a local thrift store last year. My wife was very annoyed with that black cable running along the wall and over doors.

Unfortunately my house has two separate attics so running additional new wiring is relatively completed.
 
Our XFINITY (Comcast) cable router blocks IPX/SPX traffic. I can move files across the wire using FastLynx but when I try to play IPX/SPX games this does not work unfortunately. Hence the use of 10BASE2 over RG59/RG6. We could use 10BASET but that is already used for the contemporary LAN (instead of WIFI).
 
No. I do not believe MS-DOS PCs are capable of accessing modern websites unless through complicated means. Plus I only turn them on occasionally for local FTP so that also reduces 99.9% of exposure.
 
bobconan said:
Do you face any risks hooking up vintage gear to the internet?
Click to expand...
pretty low risk. The PC is not running services that can be exploited like modern systems do.
No processes listening, not much to attack. It might be easy to overload and crash the network stack.
 
I've heard tell about Windows 3.1 systems using browsers that start to have issues.
 
From an average attacker viewpoint gaining access to, say, a Pentium 133 MHz would be of very little value. The most commonly compromised devices these days are all sorts of IoT devices and outdated smartphones and the most common motivation is building botnets.
 
Windows 3.* browsers are incapable of TLS1.2/3 and unable to browse 99.9% of the web.

I do not run Windows 3.* or 9*/ME.
 
Last weekend I got a free spool of RG59 from an estate sale down the street. Today I screwed on regular ends on a very long cable traversing the house. I then hooked it up to the house ethernet through a HUB on one end and through a HUB on the other end. I was able to get it to work really well at 10MBPS. Including streaming YouTube and playing a game of Fortnite. There was minimal stuttering and packet loss. Cool experiment. Except my wife did not appreciate the cable on the floor running through the house.
 
No idea. I do not have any 75OHM terminators. I connected the RG59 in the walls between two rooms and that seems to work fine as well.
 
10Base2 is designed for 50 ohm characteristic impedance. It's rather tolerant but you may encounter signal problems such as unwanted signal artefacts if using 75 ohm characteristic impedance.
Only ground one of the terminators NOT BOTH!
The best way to test your installation is with a TDR (Time domain reflectometer) and suitable oscilloscope.
Micom/Racal/Interlan NI5210 network adapters are rather bulletproof.
185m (607ft) is the max for a single trunk when using repeaters with multiple segments.
Without single trunk without repeaters some NICs can handle 300m.
Also remember the 0.5m minimum distance between T connectors.
 
JAXVintagePC said:
Windows 3.* browsers are incapable of TLS1.2/3 and unable to browse 99.9% of the web.

I do not run Windows 3.* or 9*/ME.
Click to expand...
That's okay, because 99% of the web is not interesting to vintage computers.

I use Elinks and DOSLynx on some vintage equipment. But it's just a curiosity. 99% of my browsing is done in Linux.

Seaken
 
Thank you. I did this as a fun experiment. It works. That is all that matters to me. If it had not worked that would have been fine also. I need to figure out why two wall connections are not working with my tester however. That is a separate topic and not relevant to VCFED.
 
One of those oddities of modern life. I still have a pile of RG58 cable that I've been unable to give away; most folks want RG59 for video, if they want coax at all. I suspect that using 75 ohm coax for 10Base2 works tolerably, even with 50 ohm terminators. I used to roll my own 10Base2 terminators by soldering a 47 ohm resistor inside of a BNC plug. Worked about as well as the real thing.
 
DOS can access the internet fine via Links. It's really funny since DOS is easier to surf the web on now than Windows 3.1x is, lol. Links has TLS 1.2. But it needs a 386 SX with a co-processor, or faster to work.

That said even with that it's low-risk because no Java, no Flash - Links is just a HTML renderer. It can't even do animated Gifs or any of that fancy stuff. Just a basic browser for interpreting HTML.
 
75ohm terminators are common as dirt with f-connectors on them - they were used pretty extensively to cap off unused CATV splitter ports
 
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