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

[Alois Hammer]

When I was working in an environment of seven Catalyst 3524/3548
switches and a 2924, I had a large batch of HP desktops with 3C920
(3C905C embedded) NICs, all turned out of the factory at the same time. 
Whether or not they autonegotiated correctly depended on *which switch
port* they were attached to.  Some switch ports worked, most didn't. 
When I got there, it was taking anything up to five minutes to get
domain creds from the local NT4 DCs.  After I forced speed and duplex on
all the ports in the warehouse -- except for some embedded devices that
refused to connect *unless* they were allowed to autonegotiate -- login
time dropped by about 95% for most people.