68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.

Farallon PhoneNet StarController/24 Series 300

Posted by: olePigeon on 2011-02-19 14:12:46 My latest über conquest from Weird Stuff: A complete in-box 24 port Farallon PhoneNet StarController Series 300. Picked it up for $15. 😀 Plugged it in and it powers up. Looks like it's never been used. The management software is still sealed, none of the resistors have been used, and the device labels are still unused. Looks like I'll need some sort of centronics cable that'll go to either a patch panel or standard RJ-11 phone wiring panel. I'm gonna see about wiring it up to a patch panel, those are cheap. 🙂 While I'm used to a hub meaning just broadcasting traffic everywhere, this is apparently a managed switch. It also says it's a network-visible device with its own AppleTalk node name and address. My AppleTalk to Ethernet bridge that I got earlier is limited to 12 devices, so my plan is to get this AppleTalk hub hooked up to my bridge as a "single device," then essentially be able to double the number of AppleTalk devices. Not that I have 24 devices, but you never know. :lol: I can also make available the Star Command management software if anyone needs/wants it. This has definitely been the year of AppleTalk for me. 😎

Posted by: CJ_Miller on 2011-02-19 18:54:51 Another great AppleTalk score! I have wondered about these controllers. I am trying to avoid the whole PhoneNet cabling thing, I prefer shielded twisted-pair for this stuff. The StarController would probably work just as well with different connectors than RJ11, if adapted. Wish I could check out this store!

Posted by: mactjaap on 2011-02-20 03:03:39 Nice find! I don't understand how to use it....How do you connect it to actual Mac's? Found a nice ad of the device: http://books.google.nl/books?id=UxAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT1&ots=Co0_03qfdV&dq=Farallon%20PhoneNet%20StarController%20Series%20300&pg=PT1#v=onepage&q=Farallon%20PhoneNet%20StarController%20Series%20300&f=false

Posted by: Anonymous Freak on 2011-02-20 11:59:14 Very nice! When my company had my department temporarily located on another floor, the telephone patch panel was an old Farallon PhoneNet patch panel! I meant to take the paper insert from it (since that was the part that said PhoneNet, was just "fluff" and wouldn't be missed, and the rest of the patch panel looked like a regular phone patch panel,) but I forgot to on moving day. :-(

Posted by: H3NRY on 2011-02-22 12:03:18 That's an interesting find. It will require a regular phone 25-pair to RJ-11 patch panel. It won't however fix your bridge's 12 machine limit, since that is caused by limited memory to store AppleTalk addresses. The Star Controller is a repeater with a management processor. It's not a true LocalTalk switch. I don't think anybody made one. AppleTalk doesn't have anything like NAT to share a single address among several clients. Back then, nobody thought there'd ever be networks that needed more than two billion distinct addresses.

Posted by: envirogeek on 2011-02-25 14:00:31 I've posted a quick and dirty PDF I made from an old Farallon MSWord Tech note re PhoneNET wiring and termination guidelines at... http://members.shaw.ca/steves_stuff_for_sale/Wiring&TermGuidelines Can't guarantee how long it will stay there. Not quite clear on the Wiki process here yet, perhaps one of the Mods can contact me if they'd like my to post a cleaner file on the site or upload the text somewhere.

Posted by: olePigeon on 2011-02-25 20:58:36 Downloaded it, thanks.

Posted by: JRL on 2011-02-26 13:36:33 I miss going to WeirdStuff 🙁 I hope to make another trip there in a few months! Sweet score! BTW, if any of you guys are ever in the Bay Area region of CA, GO TO WEIRDSTUFF ASAP. You won't regret it.

Posted by: olePigeon on 2011-02-28 09:07:37 Also check out Excess Solutions. They also specialize in computer surplus, but they have a ton of ICs and other components. You can find 90% of the caps needed for most Macs there.

1