I can go buy the 5 and 8 port models tonight to try. If one of these works, then we'll at least have a basis for moving forward in the classroom. So far, I don't think we have any confirmed working devices. As I said in another email, I've tested the Linksys 5-port Workgroup Switch with no luck. Mike <div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Benjamin M. Schwartz <<a href="mailto:bmschwar@fas.harvard.edu">bmschwar@fas.harvard.edu</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">Caroline Meeks wrote: > One piece of this will be creating a cluster in the hallway, that > collaborates locally but does not have internet access. I've yet to get > this to work. We need to translate from discussions of network segments to > very practical discussion of what specific model numbers can you buy at the > store and it will work for X number of computers. </div>You should be able to use any "switch" with as many ports as you have computers. For example: 5 ports: <a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0257750" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0257750</a> 8 ports: <a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0294506" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0294506</a> 16 ports: <a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0282106" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0282106</a> (The Microcenter in Cambridge happens to be my usual place to buy this sort of electronics.) All you should need is a switch like that, and one standard ethernet cable for each computer. If you have a very large number of machines, you can start connecting multiple switches together, but this sounds unlikely to be necessary for your purposes. --Ben _______________________________________________ Sugar-devel mailing list <a href="mailto:Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org">Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel</a> </blockquote></div>