Hello and thank you for reading this. I need to connect an old 8088 computer with an 8bit Etherlink II card that has a coaxial connector to a more modern router with rj-45, any suggestions for an adapter that does this? Any help is appreciated.
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Connect an old network card with coaxial exit to a router with rj-45, help.
- Thread starter Datamisc
- Start date
Plasma
Veteran Member
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- Nov 7, 2005
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You can use a 10Base-2/10Base-T media converter, but replacing the NIC will be more cost-effective.
dabone
Veteran Member
And even then, I've had issues connecting 10mbs Ethernet to modern equipment without using a 10/100 in between the system and modern routers.
Plasma
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Actually it looks like the Etherlink II has an AUI port, so you could also use an AUI/RJ45 transceiver.
Plasma
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True, the switching on modern routers tends to be very cost-reduced. Most dedicated switches should still be able to handle 10Base-T.
There is proper 8bit Etherlink II in case your budget allows… https://www.ebay.com/itm/296484606328
jlang
Veteran Member
Look up 10base2 hub. You should find a lot of old stuff available. You won't like the prices.
Agree, I Did something similar to this a while back. Found someone on fb marketplace selling an old ethernet hub cheaply with a single 10base2 connector. As part of the vintage setup, I wanted to do the 10base2 wiring ("thin coax" with the BNC connectors). If the wiring isn't desirable to you I'd vote for an adapter. For bonus points setup a virtual Novell Netware 3.12 server and see if you can hit it from your client. Actually I have no idea if you can get novell client software working on a 8088, I was using an AST 486 client side.
cb01854
Member
Unless experimenting with 10base2 is an explicit goal of this project, I would strongly vote for using an 10Base-T AUI transceiver with the Etherlink's AUI port:
In theory, 10base-2 should just work with a 10base-2 capable hub, but you may end up troubleshooting the hardware if you don't have known-good cables, etc...
Troubleshooting 10Base-T should be easier.
If you have a linux box (Raspberry Pi, etc...) the "ethtool" tool can provide a lot of insight into what is advertised/supported by both ethernet NICs and allows you to tweak what gets advertised, etc...
In theory, 10base-2 should just work with a 10base-2 capable hub, but you may end up troubleshooting the hardware if you don't have known-good cables, etc...
Troubleshooting 10Base-T should be easier.
If you have a linux box (Raspberry Pi, etc...) the "ethtool" tool can provide a lot of insight into what is advertised/supported by both ethernet NICs and allows you to tweak what gets advertised, etc...
I kept my 3com officeconnect TP4 Combo for that purpose.
3C16703 is the model number and don't confuse it with the normal TP4. It has 4 ethernet, AUI port and coax.
https://dn720702.ca.archive.org/0/i...d6f5/449fa732-e9e9-4a72-a6cb-6b366f2cd6f5.pdf
3C16703 is the model number and don't confuse it with the normal TP4. It has 4 ethernet, AUI port and coax.
https://dn720702.ca.archive.org/0/i...d6f5/449fa732-e9e9-4a72-a6cb-6b366f2cd6f5.pdf
mdog69
Experienced Member
Many old ethernet hubs had 10BaseT ports on the front, and an AUI port intended for a 10Base5 Thicknet connection to the rest of the network.
Plug in a 10Base2 transceiver into that AUI port and you are good to go.
Plug in a 10Base2 transceiver into that AUI port and you are good to go.
maxtherabbit
Veteran Member
this is the correct answer
I ordered this one. Thank you.
Eudimorphodon
Veteran Member
Just remember, depending on the driver for your card you may need to add a switch to tell it to use the specific port/media type. I remember running into this issue once with a card that didn’t physically have the 10base2 port but the driver defaulted to that non-wired path anyway.
A few comments:
Note that some 16-bit ISA cards will work in an 8-bit slot. In particular this is said to be true for the 3C509, which is readily available with TP port. (There were at least four versions of the 3c509: BNC+AUI, TP+AUI, "Combo" with all three, and TP only, and then of course the 3c509B with the "parallell tasking" logo on the NIC chip is more desirable and thus likely more expensive than the older 3c509).
Otherwise the SMC/WD8003 is a great 8-bit ISA card.
If you really want to use the existing card, I strongly agree with the recommendation of using a transceiver for the AUI port.
Note that there were early transceiver that might not be fully compatible with everything. If you pay more than "thrift store junk box" money for a transceiver, make sure that the seller actually has tested it with "standard" equipment (I.E. not some weird pre-TP-standard hub they found in the attic/basement, kind of sort of).
If you want to use BNC coax 10-base-2 network, I strongly recommend one of the hubs with one such port and a few TP ports that were sold relatively cheaply in the mid/late 90's for small offices and home usage. Those seem to always just work.
I would advice against using any "professional" equipment, especially equipment that's older than the mid 90's and especially from brands not typically associated with PC/office equipment but rather expensive inter system communication stuff. I.E. avoid for example an ethernet bridge or even some sort of prehistoric switch with two or more AUI ports. The few I've tried back in the days were too slow to switch direction between the BNC network I had and the one new computer with TP that I wanted to add to my network (warranty/rental agreement issue stopped me from just installing a BNC card in that computer). The result was that if the new computer tried to talk to a computer with a 3c509 or similar on the BNC network the first response packet was always lost and a retransmission timeout had to occur for each group of packets, making it extremely slow. The slightly slower response of a computer with an 8-bit ISA SMC/WD8003 worked fine though, so in your case it might work out fine.
A caveat though is that a bunch of all the AUI ethernet equipment I had at the time was stuff that companies had donated to a computer club I was a member of, probably due to the equipment were somewhat usable but not good enough for the companies/company that donated it. Other stuff might be way better.
Also, a generic "old network equipment" advice is to try to buy stuff that doesn't have a fan, as the fan would likely have failed and worse case there might not be any protection from overheating, and thus there might be intermittent faults and whatnot typical for electronics that have overheated.
Note that some 16-bit ISA cards will work in an 8-bit slot. In particular this is said to be true for the 3C509, which is readily available with TP port. (There were at least four versions of the 3c509: BNC+AUI, TP+AUI, "Combo" with all three, and TP only, and then of course the 3c509B with the "parallell tasking" logo on the NIC chip is more desirable and thus likely more expensive than the older 3c509).
Otherwise the SMC/WD8003 is a great 8-bit ISA card.
If you really want to use the existing card, I strongly agree with the recommendation of using a transceiver for the AUI port.
Note that there were early transceiver that might not be fully compatible with everything. If you pay more than "thrift store junk box" money for a transceiver, make sure that the seller actually has tested it with "standard" equipment (I.E. not some weird pre-TP-standard hub they found in the attic/basement, kind of sort of).
If you want to use BNC coax 10-base-2 network, I strongly recommend one of the hubs with one such port and a few TP ports that were sold relatively cheaply in the mid/late 90's for small offices and home usage. Those seem to always just work.
I would advice against using any "professional" equipment, especially equipment that's older than the mid 90's and especially from brands not typically associated with PC/office equipment but rather expensive inter system communication stuff. I.E. avoid for example an ethernet bridge or even some sort of prehistoric switch with two or more AUI ports. The few I've tried back in the days were too slow to switch direction between the BNC network I had and the one new computer with TP that I wanted to add to my network (warranty/rental agreement issue stopped me from just installing a BNC card in that computer). The result was that if the new computer tried to talk to a computer with a 3c509 or similar on the BNC network the first response packet was always lost and a retransmission timeout had to occur for each group of packets, making it extremely slow. The slightly slower response of a computer with an 8-bit ISA SMC/WD8003 worked fine though, so in your case it might work out fine.
A caveat though is that a bunch of all the AUI ethernet equipment I had at the time was stuff that companies had donated to a computer club I was a member of, probably due to the equipment were somewhat usable but not good enough for the companies/company that donated it. Other stuff might be way better.
Also, a generic "old network equipment" advice is to try to buy stuff that doesn't have a fan, as the fan would likely have failed and worse case there might not be any protection from overheating, and thus there might be intermittent faults and whatnot typical for electronics that have overheated.
Only the 3C509B works in an 8-bit slot. Not the older non-B variants.
Ok finally got some time to do some testing, still waiting for a BNC with AUI switch, But I got the CentreCOM 210TS and, connected the card to the switch, and using the awesome NetDrive from Brutman attempted to connect the computer.
The packet driver recognized and seemed to work ok.
DHCP seems to connect properly to the server.
but when I use the drive all I get is garbage (Images)
Am I doing something wrong, I suspect that since all works except the data maybe a memory corruption problem in the card (if so, probably would need a different forum topic for it), but maybe it's just that I am not used to configure a network like this.
Thank you!
The packet driver recognized and seemed to work ok.
DHCP seems to connect properly to the server.
but when I use the drive all I get is garbage (Images)
Am I doing something wrong, I suspect that since all works except the data maybe a memory corruption problem in the card (if so, probably would need a different forum topic for it), but maybe it's just that I am not used to configure a network like this.
Thank you!
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Dos 3.3... will attempt booting with 6.22 and see
You were absolutely right. Starting DOS 6.22 fixed it, unfortunately this ACER computer´s clock only works with MS-DOS 3.3 provided by ACER, so the fix will be either start with 6.22 to access the big drive or make a smaller one for this computer. Thank you all.