10BASE2 Network Basics - Rewinding the Network (Part 1)

Travel back to the roots of Ethernet as we explore the basics of 10BASE2, the technology that once powered local networks.
In this video, we'll break down the fundamentals of the OSI model with a focus on layers 1 and 2 and shedding light on the vintage hardware that made it all possible: Get up close with network cards, RG-58 coaxial cabling, and the critical function of repeaters. We'll also take brief detours to compare 10BASE2 with its predecessors 10BASE-5, and its successor 10BASE-T.

00:00 Intro
00:38 Into 10BASE2 basics
02:16 10BASE2 origins
03:17 The most simplistic 10BASE2 network
05:28 Extending a 10BASE2 network
06:05 10BASE2: Bus Topology
07:06 Extending 10BASE2 beyond segments
07:51 Repeaters and Hub/Repeaters
10:12 Into Layer2, NICs and MAC addresses
12:00 Why 10BASE2 is a broadcast-type medium
13:06 CSMA/CD explained
14:01 The thing about multi-connector NICs
17:24 Attaching 10BASE5/AUI NICs to a 10BASE2 network
17:20 A very brief look into 10BASE5
17:46 10BASE2/10BASE-T media converters
18:24 Conclusion
19:01 Next on TPC / Outro

Links:

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Copyright @ 2024 THE PHINTAGE COLLECTOR, Gianpaolo Del Matto. All rights reserved.

Theme Music composed by Abdallah El-Ghannam.

Additional music featured by rootkitty

[dtvdavid]

I have one old network card with BNC connector... back in the time I didn't know what was the purpose, now I learned it today, thanks Phintage Collector!

[Cadenadian]

Currently studying for my COMPTIA Network + Cert. this was a great educational video that I’d say all networking students should watch!

[PotatoFi]

Great episode! I've never seen 10BASE2 in person, other than one old D-link hub and one old network card I have, so this was super educational for me.

[tlhIngan]

Fun fact - the OSI model is actually a real networking model that was competing against TCP/IP and Ethernet back in the day. You had companies demanding OSI compliant hardware and software as a competing network standard. Of course, it never took off, but that's why things like TCP/IP and Ethernet and other networking technologies never fit neatly into the OSI standard. They never were supposed to. As a vendor you offered an OS with OSI compliance, bought OSI compliant hardware and wrote OSI compliant apps. But it was too little too late, and in the end, things like BSD sockets won out for the user APIs, TCP/IP for networking protocols and Ethernet. I don't think there was enough OSI "stuff" around to actually made a production network from.

[MattTrevett]

I will listen to you talk about this topic for hours. And thank you for the captions as well.

[robmcleod]

I'm enjoying your recent tangent in to old networking technologies, it definitely scratches a different itch

[SobieRobie]

Watched from Slovenia! Great video. I remeber doing BNC networks back in the day. Even one or two commercially but we switched to rj-45 very fast

[Tylonfoxx]

I've only ever seen base2 once in my life around 2009-10 when I helped clean out an old office building.
Got me a good load of old hardware from that place, including a bunch of NICs, a few laptops and other goodies.

I never did get a base2 LAN going - it literally took until today to realize that I'd forgotten the terminators. So close and yet so far 😀

[wintermute]

I built my first 10base2 network in a my apartment, where I couldn't drill any holes in the walls to pass the cable between rooms. Instead, I ran the cables in the open space between the floor and bottom of each room's door when it was closed. It worked pretty well except for when a cable wasn't flat on the floor and someone slammed a bedroom door, taking down the entire network.

[joshm]

I've had my retro PCs connected to a 10base2 network for about a year now, it's so beautifully janky I love it

[FeedMeDoughnuts]

Another high quality video with loads of geeky accurate and well researched details.

[jrherita]

I have a serious soft spot for 10Base2. I ran a multinode BBS off of this in the early 1990s. I had as many as 10-11 computers hooked up via BNC at one time, and I do remember the terminators getting loose on their own occasionally :). I started with a .. "free" copy of Novell Netware 286 before moving to LANtastic. LANtastic turned out to be faster and more flexible for running a board.

Thank you for this great video!

[damouze]

Me and a couple of friends hosted the very first LAN-party at our scouting group in the early 90s and hosted several others later on as well. Certainly in the early years, even though 10base-2 networks were kind of passe already by then, they were convenient to set up and use, until one of us obtained a (IIRC) 24 port 100mbps switch, which was a very big step up.

And all the computers we brought to these parties... PCs, DEC Alpha Workstations, SGI Indy's, etc.

Ah good times...

[cocusar]

I have the strong urge of playing with some 10base2 stuff now! I always used 10baseT on these cards, and I even have a hub with both connections, and never got it working on base2. I think I didn't know how to set it up back then. Great video!

[Jackpkmn]

I remember the old macs in my school had connectors like these. But we had no cabling to hook them up. So instead I hooked them up using their serial ports so that all 7 of the macs could access the same printer. A room with 6 black and white macs in the back and one color mac. A laserwriter at one end and a imagewriter at the other end. Previously these printers were only hooked up to one computer on each end and people were ferrying floppy disks around to print stuff out. Once I set it all up everyone was able to print to either printer from any of the computers (which was important because the imagewriter could do color but the laserwriter could not.)

Now imagine all this is being set up by an 11 year old in 2000. I attribute my love of computers today to stuff like that. I look forward to seeing how the network was supposed to be set up vs how I actually accomplished it.

[MegaManNeo]

I remember when we in school still had a BNC network in the classroom in 2004.
Fun times.

[mlies]

Perfect timing! I nostalgia-bought a 3c509 NIC last week!

[idahofur]

When I first started in computers. I installed several of those networks. Including putting ends of cables. Due to crimper and ends being a slight different. The middle brass pin would not crimp 100% or even fall off. So I would solder it. Solved so many problems and I can't tell you how many times I fixed competitors cables. I did have one tell me that is why they only used prepackaged cables. With Novell and the size of the network . Using multiple nic cards was the way to do. Even if you have 15 / 15 in a single room to cut down on traffic. I was so happy when we moved away from that stuff. Got tired of getting a call about the network going down and finding out somebody munched a connector or unplugged a few stations. leaving the T in place. I did have one strange instance. I did a long run between a building. It started on its own card from the server. Worked just great and was in the proper length. But, I had one workstation that would not work right at the beginning of the run in the other building. So basically the cable went 50ft before the first station. Maye 30. Anyway if I ended the network in that place. It would work fine. When I plugged in the rest of the network. That one station did not work. I tried different cards and everything. I could even run the station to another spot and it would work fine. Used a coupler to go around the spot. It was fine. Finally I did something I could not tell if it would work or not. I put a T up in the ceiling and run one cable down. Probably say 10ft of cable. Then on the back of the workstation put a T and a terminator. That solved the issue. I did all the lan tests I know of and it was not problem. Worked great for years until I left computing. So the only 3 terminator segment. I always wanted to go back and try that in a test environment. Never did though. Once again due to cat 3 / 5 cabling.

[Coburn]

Great video! I did have some ISA network cards that were NE2000 Compatible in the past, but they needed a BNC terminator or the lights would disco saying no cable connection found. The LAN port on them also wouldn't function without it.

[RetroTechChris]

My first network was 10 base 2. No surprise, not having a clue, I couldn't figure out at first why my network wasn't working without T's and terminators 😅. Great video as always.