In the 90s, when Ethernet cards still cost like 50-100 bucks (more than us kids could afford), I got a large box of around 10 ISA ARCNet cards from a friend who just migrated a small office to Ethernet. There were no hubs or anything.
A "quick" internet search later (this was before Google, so it took a few hours total), I found the schematics for a passive ArcNet hub and built one using spare parts and a cheap plastic box.
It worked extremely well, and it was very flexible since you could mix and match star and bus topologies as you liked. So if someone only had a short cable, they could be connected to the computer next to them with a T connector and go to the central hub that way.
We used this setup for LAN parties for about 2 or 3 years, until everyone had gotten a 100mbit Ethernet card.
A "quick" internet search later (this was before Google, so it took a few hours total), I found the schematics for a passive ArcNet hub and built one using spare parts and a cheap plastic box.
It worked extremely well, and it was very flexible since you could mix and match star and bus topologies as you liked. So if someone only had a short cable, they could be connected to the computer next to them with a T connector and go to the central hub that way.
We used this setup for LAN parties for about 2 or 3 years, until everyone had gotten a 100mbit Ethernet card.