Comment by spydum
2 days ago
My first exposure to networking was a 10base2 setup I got from a closing business. Setting that up to run an ipx/spx network which I could run doom/descent/quake on was my very first intro to networking. Was so cool to see computers across the room communicate back then. Something very satisfying about the way those coax connectors twist in and click.
> My first exposure to networking was a 10base2 setup I got from a closing business.
Exact same! My neighbors (still friends to this day) managed to put their hands on lots of used 10base2 network cards and coax cables / Ts and terminators from a company that closed shop.
So we put those cards in our PCs and created a LAN and we had a coax cable going from our bedrooms (my brother and I) to the neighbors' house. On the third floor! We contemplated using utility cables in the middle of the street to hook the neighbor across the street but decided it wasn't wise (we were teenagers so we still contemplated the idea). We also fancied the idea of drilling a hole between the two houses: my neighbor's father was fine with it and provided us with a really long drill but my parents didn't want to hear about it.
And we didn't have the proper dedicated BNC connectors crimp tool though (and had zero idea where to buy one and were too broke anyway), so we became masters at building coax cables with BNC connectors by using regular pliers.
Them little orcs and humans from Warcraft 2 would then transit through the coax cable from house to house (so around 1995).
tolkien-ring network
First college computer lab was coax 10base2. Got introduced to MUDs on that one. And yeah, coax was unwieldy to work with, but we weren't pulling cables out on accident (at least not without taking the whole case with it).