CompTIA® netplus (n10-003) tutorials and Test Questions Guaranteed pass

RG8 or RG11 is often referred to as Thicknet, and for a good reason, it is almost 3/4" in diameter. It's characteristics are as follows:
10Base5, 10 Mbps, 500 meters per segment, 50-ohm resistance.
Vampire taps are used to tap into the thick core.
The 5-4-3 rule is applied as follows:
There are 5 segments with 4 repeaters and 3 segments may be populated.
A segment may constitute 100 nodes with a repeater counting as a node.

RG-58 is often referred to as Thinnet.
10Base2, 10Mbps, 185 meters per segment, 50-ohm resistance.
Connectors may be BNC, 'T' connectors, and barrel connectors.
The 5-4-3 rule is applied as follows:
There are 5 segments with 4 repeaters and 3 segments may be populated.
A segment may constitute 30 nodes with a repeater counting as a node.
With either Thicknet or Thinnet a ground is required at only one end of a segment.

Network Cable comparisons

802.3 Ethernet

Ethernet	Cable	Max distance	Max speed	Connector
10Base5	Coax	500 meters	10Mbps	Vampire Tap, AUI, DB-15
10Base2	Coax	185 meters	10Mbps	BNC, 'T', barrel
10BaseT	CAT 3, 4, 5	100 meters	10Mbps	RJ-45

803.3u Fast Ethernet

Ethernet	Cable	Max distance	Max speed	Connector	Notes
100BaseTX	CAT 5	100 meters	100Mbps	RJ-45	Uses 2 pair
100BaseT4	CAT 3, 4, 5	100 meters	100Mbps	RJ-45	No full duplex
100BaseVG	CAT 3, 4, 5	100 meters	100Mbps	RJ-45	VGAnyLAN

803.3z Gigabit Ethernet

Ethernet	Cable	Max distance	Max speed	Connector
1000BaseCX	STP	25 meters	1000Mbps	DB-9

Hardware devices at the Network layer, Data link layer and the Physical layer.