Gigabit Networking for the Home?

The Clockwork Troll asks: "I've had a whole-house audio/video distribution project on the back-burner for a while now. As gigabit networking hardware prices come down to earth, I'm tempted to jump on the 1000BaseTX bandwagon. As far as I can tell though, the current crop of consumer-priced hardware/software doesn't address a couple key issues, namely: fragmenting jumbo frames for the benefit of legacy clients - this is critical as some of the devices on my network will not tolerate the 9000+ byte Ethernet frames which are needed to get the most out of gigabit; and OS support - do Linux and Windows require much tweaking to take advantage of gigabit? Will most drivers automatically optimize themselves? A Google search didn't reveal too much consensus, especially on hardware choices. What switches and software configurations have Slashdot readers been using for home gigabit networks, in particular mixed ones (100/1000BaseTX?"

Comments

Re:Before everyone knocks the poster

[rhavenn]

I was at CompUSA awhile back and some guy was talking to the this sales dude. The guy said he a 256/128 DSL connection and needed a NIC card. The sales guy told him to get a Gig card...it would speed up his internet. I actually did a *cough*bullshit*cough* as I walked by. CompUSA sales people are the WORST.

Re:Problems with 1000BaseTX in same net as 100Base

[Patik]

If you have 100BaseTX with 1000BaseTX you will take a big performace hit.

Yeah, I heard gigabit is like ten times faster or something

Re:In your house?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah? Well *I* just rolled my own 27.5 OMGb array! And *that* was to replace my old 750 WTFb array!

So there! :p

Re:8 port Asante GX5-800P

[duffbeer703]

I had the same problem. My core routers had difficulty handling the traffic to my branch office networks in the garage and woodshed, so I upgraded to new Juniper kit.

Everything is running smooth now, with the exception of the bathroom subnet. The Juniper gear doesn't like the moisture.