> 
> } configuration picked up by my network card. Just finished looking through a
> } manual for an Intel hub but it didn't explicitly say one way or the other.
> 
>      Because there is no need.  Hubs are half-duplex devices by
> definition.
> 
> } types of hub should be available but I haven't encountered a half-duplex
> 
>      No.  There is a world of difference between a hub and a switch.
> For starters, a hub is a passive device and a switch is an active
> device.

I also think of it this way:

Hubs are layer 1 devices. They repeat or distibute electrical signals.
Switches are layer 2 devices. The repeat or distribute (ethernet) frames.

Although not a hard and fast rule, devices with a management port,
or which can be given an IP address, and do SNMP, are almost
always switches. Hubs tend to be about $10/port, switches are
noticably more.

-- 
David Maxwell, david@vex.net|david@maxwell.net -->
(About an Amiga rendering landscapes) It's not thinking, it's being artistic!
					      - Jamie Woods