Wiring terminals 300 ft. from the computer

[Ken Lerman]

In article <11774 at bsu-cs.bsu.edu> jennifer at bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Jennifer Freeman) writes:
->A company I am doing some work at needs to do some office rearanging as they
->are rapidly filling up the space they have.   They are also about to get a
->multi-user Unix Box running on a 386 or a 486.  One of the proposals is to
->locate the computer about 300 feet away from where the bulk (10-14)
->of the terminals will be.
->What type of wiring would be needed for this?  Would shielded be
->good enough?  Would some kind of line boosters be needed?  We have some people
->with knowledge of micros, but not in wiring multi-user systems.  Any suggestions
->things to look out for,  tips etc would be much apriciated.


Most modern terminals and drivers will run at 9600bps at up to 1000
feet.  Depending on where you are and local codes, you may have to use
wire with special insulation which will add to your cost.  If I were
you, I would look at running an ethernet the 300 feet to the center of
my office area and putting a 16 port terminal driver there.  (I forget
what the things are called.)  It will probably cost you about $200 per
line.  But running a single ethernet instead of a bunch of wires saves
money.

Ken