[X Newbies] Ethernet Hub/Switch

[Vincent Cayenne]

At 8:07 AM +0000 9/15/03, Chris Walker wrote:
>Can someone explain the difference between an ethernet hub and an
>ethernet switch, since both appear to serve the same purpose.

Hub - all traffic goes to all devices, a device picks up whatever is 
specifically addressed to itself. Bandwidth is shared.

Switch - traffic is sent to the destination device's port.

See <http://compnetworking.about.com/library/tips/blfaq011.htm>

A switch's cons are the addition of "hops" and some latency, neither 
of which are an issue on the now-typical 3- to 10-device home network 
connected to Cable or DSL.
-- 
Any sufficiently complex network comes, in time, to seem like an 
independent entity. - Gregory Benford