this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023

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Network upgrade! (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So, not quite an upgrade, but I’m very pleased from a nostalgia perspective nonetheless.

I found this beast in a cupboard at work a few months back, but missing its power pack. A few orders from aliexpress later, I finally found a USB (it’s 5v 2A, which is very handy) power cable that fits, and as you can see it still works. I very slowly downloaded a load of updates using it earlier.

The 4 port version of this hub was the very first piece of networking equipment that I ever bought when I was at university, all the way back in 1999. It let my housemates and I play networked Doom, which was pretty cool back then.

Hubs these days are practically useless, except that you can use them for network taps. Not that 10M is going to let you capture much traffic!

This will now live on a shelf somewhere and make me smile whenever I spot it.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Hubs are fun, you can set a packet in flight and it will fly forever :) https://youtu.be/aBFCXMfd-x4

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I have the four-port version of this hub in a box o'switches, somewhere in a closet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I've had he worst experience with Netgear network equipment, I've had more of them die than any other brand, they are garbage IMO, I don't like anything they make.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I have a netgear hub that I occasionally use for wireshark captures. It simplifies the process a lot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Blast from the past! Had a few of these!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I had to stare for a few seconds before my brain processed the image LOL

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I remember my first own switch being a Netgear as well. It was a regular 100mbit switch, but it had the words "ProSafe" on it and was made of metal, so that felt really good... Basically it looked exactly like in your picture.

I think that was also the only piece of Netgear equipment I ever really used 😅. Did they ever change the design?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My first switch was a 4 or 5 port gigabit model that looked exactly like this back in 2005. Also my last Netgear device.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I currently have the 5-port gigabit switch version of this in use in my wiring closet, as I've just moved to a new house and needed a switch to get online for work, but my rack is still in pieces in the garage and I haven't found the box that contains all of my Cisco workgroup switches.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

When did Bell Networks and Netgear have a partnership?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I still have a 2RU Intel Rackmount hub with a fibre module.

Does it have any use? nope. Does it look cool? Absolutely.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Im just going to drop a mention here, that usbc can drive most common electronics dc voltages, and if you grab a tip pack you can power many things off your laptop charger

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Er....what?

Do the tips handle the PD negotiation? Have you got a link to one, I've never seen such a thing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yep, they do exactly that. I got a 12v one that means I can charge my electric razor and toothbrush from the same charger as my phone and laptop.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I think my first hub was in a transparent plastic case.

I reckon I might still have it, but alas I currently live 10000 miles away from the attic the hub might be in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I have a similar one, a little bit older. Sadly, I can't use mine since I don't get security updates anymore

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I worked somewhere where we had an unusual setup on having some IT being dealt with in house, and some being dealt with by an outside IT company with a lot over overlap...

One day the most senior tech from outside firm came to us as I needed to discuss quite a lot of important issues face to face... When he saw one of those hubs, his eyes light up and was almost begging me if he could have that as he wanted to use it for Wireshark.

Was strange as he was a very serious IT pro but happy with an ancient hub for this, while I would instead get small 8 port Cisco managed switches with port mirroring for this purpose.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

My first ever switch was a 16 port unmanaged Netgear one.... it lives on as the unmanaged part of my hub in my 'office'.... I remember being so happy watching all the blinking lights when I first wired everything into it (had been daisy chaining old broadband routers with DHCP turned off before that).... seems like a long time ago lol.

Grats on the nostalgia