Choice Way To Get Your New Network Off The Ground
Written: Feb 02 '01 (Updated Feb 02 '01)
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Pros: Everything Included; 100Mbps Hub; Lifetime Warranty
Cons: (None)
The Bottom Line: I can heartily recommend this kit as the choice way to get your new network off the ground.
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| m4245's Full Review: D-link DFE 905 4-Port Ethernet Hub |
The following is from my complete review, which is published at http://avault.com/hardware/getreview.asp?review=dfe905. It was published on May 26, 1999, and covers this product in-depth.
NOTE: I no longer publish reviews/articles on that website.
-- Begin Review --
Are you thinking of networking your machines together? If so, the D-Link DFE-905 Network In A Box may be right up your alley. With a 4-port 10/100Mbps hub, two 10/100Mbps PCI NICs, and two 20-foot network cables, everything is provided to get you connected in no time.
To communicate to other computers, the first thing you'll need is a network interface card (NIC) in each machine. While older NICs were of the ISA variety, modern NICs come as PCI cards, and the cards included with this network kit are no exception. Find an available slot in each PC, then plug the NIC into each machine. Next, you need cables and something to connect them together. With the advent of Fast Ethernet which functions at 100Mbps, 100Base-TX wiring is essential, which uses Cat 5 network cable; sort of a larger version of your phone cord, with twisted pairs. It is definitely easier to snake this type of cable under carpet and such than the older 10Base-2 coax cable of years past. Two 20-foot cables are provided which should provide enough cable to connect two machines together from one room to the next, or possibly down the hall. Keep in mind that you don't connect one NIC directly to the other; instead, each NIC connects to one of four available ports on the hub, which doesn't necessarily have to be centrally located. Plug in the power supply for the hub, and you are half-way there.
If you want to learn more about networking, the manuals provided with the network cards and the hub have a good deal of information which is informative, and fairly easy to read. Of course installation instructions also make up a part of that documentation, and is also available in the form of an online manual on CD-ROM. The drivers for the NICs are provided on floppy disks, however. As Windows 9x boots, it should detect the new cards and prompt you for the drivers. The drivers load with little fanfare, and are not obtrusive at all, bringing along no extra baggage like tray tools or property pages. If this is the first time the machine has participated in a network (including using the Internet), Windows will also install various network support files. Repeat this procedure on the other PC, and you should then see three LEDs lit up on the hub.
The hub provided with the DFE-905 Network In A Box is the D-Link DFE-904. It bears heavy resemblance to other hubs from D-Link, with a nice metal construction, rear-mounted ports, and an internal cooling fan. Actually, there are four ports plus an uplink port, which can be used to connect multiple hubs together. By having the ports located at the rear of the hub, it is easy to hide the cables behind a desk without blocking any of the front mounted LEDs. Each of the four ports supports either 10 or 100 Mbit speeds, although the hub will only support one speed at one time. This should not be a limitation if you are just starting out, since you will have two NICs capable of either speed. While the 10 Mbps speed is more than adequate for network games, 100 Mbps speed will be noticeably faster when it comes to transferring files between the computers on the network. The DFE-904 has indicator LEDs to show data transmissions and collisions, and so now we should see three LEDs lit up. The first should indicate the current network operating speed, which is probably 100Mbps. The other two LEDs should correspond to the cables you have plugged in, and indicate a valid LINK signal is coming from the NICs in your two PCs. If the network speed shows as 10Mbps, you might need to flip the external side-mounted switch from 10Mbps to 100Mbps. The switch allows for operating at the slower speed, in case a friend comes over with an older 10Mbps Ethernet card.
If everything is a go, then it is playtime. D-Link includes shareware demos of Blizzard's Diablo and WarCraft II. With Diablo II just around the corner, it might be a good idea to brush up on those Diablo skills once again. If you've never played multiplayer games before, I can almost guarantee you will be addicted in no time. There is nothing like playing with, or against, another human being.
After you are done playing, don't forget to load File and Print Sharing for your network so you can share files and printers between the computers on the network. With software such as WinGate, and the upcoming Windows 98 Second Edition, you can even share Internet access between all of the computers on the network.
*** How it measures up
Performance: (4 stars)
The D-Link DFE-905 Network Kit includes everything you need to get a network going, down to mounting screws for the hub. With everything connected and powered up, the network performance is as robust as you would expect. The metal construction combined with the virtually silent cooling fan makes for one cool operating hub. Chances are, the fan on your PC will be louder than the hub's internal fan, so only the LEDs will remind you it is on and working. The PCI NICs work well with no apparent problems with the drivers. Of course you have support for Windows 9x and NT 4.
Features: (4 stars)
The 4-port hub is capable of running at 10Mbps or 100Mbps, although not both simultaneously. For most users, this is perfect, since a new network will run at 100Mbps, but you have the option of dropping the speed down to 10Mbps, if the need arises to connect an older, slower NIC to the network. The construction of the hub is top-notch, and the NICs do their job without any fuss.
Drivers: (3 stars)
The NIC drivers, like most NIC drivers, do the job you expect and nothing more. As PCI cards, you typically don't have to fight with assigning interrupts since that is handled by your system BIOS and Windows. D-Link provides a Lifetime Warranty on the Kit, so these could be the last NICs you buy for your PC.
Documentation: (5 stars)
D-Link provides a surprising amount of information with each of their products via the manual, so if you want to learn more about how the network works, you can pick up quite a bit. Of course, if you just want to get it up and running, there is little to hinder you.
Bundle: (3 stars)
Shareware demo copies of Diablo and WarCraft II are provided, which can be used to test your new network with multiplayer games. Although they date back to 1996, they are just as much fun today as they were back then. If you haven't played either of these before, you really should give them a try; if you have played them, you will certainly install and play them again to relive some of those great memories.
Value: (5 stars)
I have seen quite a few Network Kits out there at the same price as this one ($99), but if you read the fine print, they typically include two 10/100Mbps NICs and a 10Mbps-ONLY hub. Like the valet switch on a Corvette, this really restricts the NICs capabilities so you aren't getting everything you paid for.
Overall: (4.5 stars)
The D-Link DFE-905 Network In A Box gives you a 100Mbps hub, capable of operating at the slower 10Mbps speed, if required. With cables, mounting hardware, very in-depth instructions, top-notch construction, and a Lifetime Warranty, I can heartily recommend this kit as the choice way to get your new network off the ground.
-- End Review --
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99
Driver Availability: Windows only
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m4245
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Location: Sacramento, CA
Reviews written: 5
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