I don't know all that much about the 5000/200 - I've got some pmax
machines but every time I've dragged them out to try to make one work
it's been a frustrating struggle and eventually a failure - it's always
looked like flaky hardware, though it could be flaky software.  But I
do know something about networking. :-)

> 2) I haven't used coax for networking in almost ten years.  I've got
>    all the cable, t-connectors, and such, that I'll need, but due to
>    my network topology and current lack of console access to the
>    machine, I am unable to determine if a 10base5 <-> 10base2
>    tranceiver is getting a link or not.

There is no such thing as a 10base5 <-> 10base2 transceiver, really.
You can make such a junction with a completely passive adapter (I've
done it at a previous workplace); if you do put electronics there, I'd
argue for calling it a repeater, not a transceiver.

If you mean an AUI <-> 10base2 transceiver (my 5000/260 has an AUI
port, thanks to the PMAD-A in it), there is no such thing as "link" in
the sense you are probably thinking of (as in 10baseT and its
derivatives like 100baseTX).  Such a transceiver just sends carrier out
onto the medium and hopes.  About all it can tell is whether it's
seeing about the right AC impedance and about the right DC resistance,
and I suspect most of them don't do even that much.  (And of course
there is signal reception, too, and collision detection, but they
aren't relevant to sending on a quiet net.)

>    I've got an IBM 8271 10baseT switch as my main backbone at the
>    moment, and it has an AUI port that I believe I can use to connect
>    to a trans and then to the DEC.  Is that all I need?

Yes, if you have a 10base2 transceiver for it, that should be it,
unless the switch requires some incantation to enable the AUI port.

>    I've also got a DEC ThinNet Repeater and a Kalpana 10base5 switch,

A 10base5 switch?!  Wow.  I thought everything from the 10base5 era was
AUI and depended on (separate) transceivers to talk to the medium.

> 4) Should I expect a link light if I just power on the DEC with no
>    boot device, just the 10base2 connected as (I think) it should be?
>    In my first trial, nothing lit up other than power on the
>    transceiver.

Link light on a 10base2 transceiver?  I have no idea what's going on.
I just dug through my own collection, and the most lit-up 10base2
tranceiver I find has just five lights: transmit, receive, heartbeat,
collision, and a power light (which last changes colour to indicate
whether heartbeat is on or off).

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