Preparing

Please remember that The NetCrew does not sell, loan, or rent any network related hardware at Assembly.

Make sure that you read this section carefully before leaving for Assembly, or you will be very frustrated (and network-less) upon arrival. This point cannot be stressed enough since every year individuals arrive without the necessary equipment. All the information you will need to have a great time at this year’s party is described in detail below. Also, it is strongly recommended to read the separate Security section carefully.

Hardware and Cables

In short, you will need an Ethernet network card with an RJ45 connector and a TP (Twisted Pair) patch cable of about 10 meters in length. If you are not sure what this means, read on. If you think you do, you should probably read the rest of this section anyway. Just in case.

Network card

Only TP media (cables with RJ45 connectors) is supported in the PartyNet.
Network cards sold today are usually with only TP connector called RJ45. Also the integrated cards and the ones on laptops use this connector. You can use either 10Mbit/s or 100Mbit/s network card this year, the speed of your network card is determined automatically by the switch.

The RJ45 connector looks something like this:

Cables

Every attendee will need a 10 meter long TP patch cord. Please make sure you don’t arrive at the partyplace with a cable that is too short - the switch to which your cable will be connected to, is physically attached to the table. This means that if your cable is not long enough to cover the distance between your computer and the switch, there is very little that can be done. TP does *not* work like coaxial - it is not possible to attach your computer to the computer next to you.

A TP cable has a connector like this in each end:

RJ45 connector

When buying one, make sure you are choosing a cable meant for connecting a computer to a switch. An ‘X’ or ‘cross’ cable (meant for connecting a switch to a switch or a computer to a computer) might not work. The CAT-number is irrelevant in this kind of use. CAT-5, CAT-5e and CAT-6 will all work fine.

Wireless LAN

WLAN access to the PartyNet is also available at Assembly. Please see the WLAN-section of the PartyNet instructions for more specific details. You are not allowed to run your own WLAN at the partynet, so please don’t bring your own Access Points to the party at all.

Drivers

The driver you will need for your network card depends on what operating system you are running. This document does not intend to cover all of them - those enlightened among us using *nix based OS’s are expected to cope on their own.

But whatever your OS is, this general rule applies:

Make sure to obtain and install the driver you need before coming to the party.

The partyplace is dark and loud, the guy next to you probably does not know any more about installing network drivers than you do and the NetCrew is busy and probably cannot get to you for a few hours. Trust me, you will be much happier if you already have the network card in your machine and the drivers properly installed and tested when you arrive.

Installing a network driver into Windows

Installing should be trivial since Windows should detect your network card automatically. As a rule, it is always better to use the driver that came with the network card and not the one that came with Windows. Hence, when Windows boots up and gives the ‘Windows has detected new hardware’ window, always choose ‘Have Disk’ if you have it.