On Tue, 28 Nov 1995, Ted Johnson wrote:
 
> 2.  What kind of cable did you use?  We are probably looking at a composit
>     single- and multi-mode fiber, if it is feasible.
 
  The first thing you need to ask yourself:  What net traffic are you
expecting?  Will heavy volumes of info be going across the network?  If
not, then 10BaseT or BNC would be a good choice for interdepartmental
communications.  If you will have a moderate amount of traffic, 10BaseT
or BNC would still be good (dept. to dept, not peer-to-peer BNC) along
with an Ethernet switch.  As far as fiber is concerned, if you need/want
to spend the money, go FDDI or (if you REALLY want to go all out) ATM.  I
seriously can't see the need for more than FDDI.  It will cost you a
pretty penny as is, and perhaps 10BaseT, BNC, or T3 will fit the bill.
 
> 3.  Did you pull cat. 3 for voice and/or coax for video at the same time as
>     your data cable, for every drop?
 
  What type of video do you need?  It would be possible to have video
over FDDI or T3 if you wish.
 
> 4.  What kind of network management hardware do you use?
 
  Tooting the HP horn, HP hubs and switches<?> seem to do the best job.
As far as routers, I gruntingly say Cisco.  I'm a Livingston fan myself,
but Livingston routers may not be as high quality in many cases as higher
end Cisco's.
 
> 5.  Do you have a standard brand of PC that you recommend/purchase on your
>     campus?  If so, who coordinates such purchases?  How centralized is your
>     campus computing situation?  Who manages the network?
 
  In my experience, a reputable 3rd party PC works the best.  Under no
circumstances would I recommend Dell.  I have had nothing but problems
with them on my networks.  If you want to go commercial PC, I would again
recommend HP (even the average-consumer based Pavillion series is quite
nice) or maybe DEC.  If you can go mail order, by all means go with Micron.
 
> 6.  Any pitfalls you can warn us about?
 
  You have a wide range of OS's you're trying to mix (MPE, VMS,
DOS/Windows, etc).  It's not going to be easy.  It would be a good idea,
IMHO, to have a UNIX system to 'keep it all together', running DNS services,
etc.
 
Daniel Kosack  -- Linux Man --
 
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