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Grasshopper

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Grasshopper

I am aware of the networking limitations of NB and was curious about something.The popular recommendation is that NB is good up to 10 users (I've also seen 15) on a network.How is that divvied up so to speak. Meaning, what if there are, say, 15 NetBEUI-connected computers on the network but not all are always connected to the network. Since an internet connection requires TCP/IP, would the NB limitations only show up if all computers were actually using NB? At what point does NB begin to break down with actual use-as in mainly file sharing? Is the baseline connectivity that suffers or is it when the network becomes busy with NB traffic?I ask this because my family is expanding and we may eventually build a house and of course, being somewhat of a computer geek, would plan the computer network as one of the priorities, and it looks like, with the possibility of my mother living with me and then with the design of a house around a family, we'd have around 10 computers in the house (YEAH BABY!). I love what NB can do for security and quickness and most of the arguments against NB currently don't usually apply to my situation, unless it's functionality begins to break down. I currently employ (with 4 computers) NB bound to file sharing and client MS and then TCP/IP bound to the NIC and like it that way.Allen

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Guest LilBambi

I know quite a few folks that are using NetBEUI for the local net to separate it from the Internet on small networks.However, my experience on WinNT and Win2K computers was that it got in the way. I would hope they fixed that in WinXP. We had a relatively small network and only some where using the NetBEUI to access network printers.Maybe someone else can answer that one. I got burnt on using it ... it made both NetBEUI and TCP/IP connections slower like it was some sort of polling or competition thing. And we were only using it for HP printers!I think Scot said he uses it now. Maybe he can help in that area.We just never got it working as fast as using TCP/IP only. But that was several years ago. Could have been the HP implementation that was at fault too.

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Grasshopper

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about the competition thing.The only problem I have with my network is the Linksys wifi problem that has been mentioned here and on Scot's list. Nope, I don't hit the network hard enough to be very slow with my 4 computers.

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TBird,I don't think the difference between 10 and 15 computer is going to matter, especially if they're not all used at once. I can't honestly tell you where it would break down. I've used NetBEUI pretty extensively, and have never seen it break down, but I max out at about four simultaneous users -- so I may not be a good test.There have been issues with NetBEUI, as LilBambi points out. I've seen more problems with it under XP than anywhere else.I'm actually using IPX/SPX with NetBIOS. I never wound up rolliing out to my entire network. The hibernation problems were too much of a big deal for me, since I've starting using that extensively with a wide range of computers on my network, both for convenience and to save power. (Electricity has just this year gotten very expensive where I live.)The main reasons to use IPX/SPX with NetBIOS over NetBEUI are simply these:1. Microsoft still supports it2. Hibernation3. No installation problems under XPMain reason to use NetBEUI is that is does a slightly better job of stabilizing mixed Windows networks, in my opinion (and I'm not alone in having that point of view). But I think IPX/SPX may be a better bet for most people.Hope this helps.-- Scot

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