[geeks] Seems like low-cost Cisco 10/100 switches are available

[nate at portents.com]

> Cisco + Sun HME (and maybe other) NICs...many, and as recently as '05.
> Cisco + Apple G4 NIC (don't recall the NIC chipset).

Out of curiosity, how old was the Cisco gear?  I recently read this on
wikipedia, but it doesn't indicate when Cisco cleaned up their act:

"The first version of the autonegotiation specification, IEEE 802.3u, was
open to different interpretations. Although most manufacturers implemented
this standard in one way, some others, including network giant Cisco,
implemented it in a different way... The debatable portions of the
autonegotiation specifications were eliminated by the 1998 release of
802.3. This was later followed by the release of IEEE 802.3ab in 1999. The
new standard specified that gigabit Ethernet over copper wiring requires
autonegotiation."

- Nate