Why are new Suns thick Ethernet only

[George Young]

There has been a lot of talk on comp.sys.sun about how "you can't hook a
machine with only a thinnet port to a thick cable".  I am bewildered, since we
have been doing this for about a year with no (perceived) ill effects.  We
have a thick cable running through our labs, with various suns attached.
Those with only thicknet ports use the usual external transceiver and drop
cable.  Those with thinnet ports are connected directly to the thick cable
with a "type N" to BNC adapter.  Is this practice contrary to the standard, or
likely to fail (how?), or just basicly evil?
    ____________________+==============+__________________
      thicknet cable    | type "N" T   |
    --------------------+====+    +====+------------------
                             |    |
                             +----+
                             |    |    <-- type "N" to BNC adapter
                             \____/
                              |  |
                @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@  @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
                     Sun 3/60 thinnet port

Yes, the mechanical connection is not ideal, having a heavy thick-cable
hanging off of a little BNC connector, but we have had no problems.  The
adapter adds only 28mm to the stem of the T compared to a thinnet connection.

George Young,  Rm. B-141		young at ll-vlsi.arpa
MIT Lincoln Laboratory			young at vlsi.ll.mit.edu
244 Wood St.                            [10.1.0.10]
Lexington, Massachusetts 02173		(617) 981-2756