logies
A bus topology uses one cable as a main trunk to connect all of the systems together
(shown in Figure 1-4). A bus topology is very easy to set up and requires no additional
hardware such as a hub. The cable is also called a trunk, a backbone, or a segment.
With a bus topology, when a computer sends out a signal, the signal travels the
cable length in both directions from the sending computer. When the signal reaches
the end of the cable length, it bounces back and returns in the direction it came
from. This is known as signal bounce. Signal bounce is a problem, because if another
signal is sent on the cable length at the same time, the two signals will collide and
be destroyed and then must be retransmitted. For this reason, at each end of the
cable there is a terminator. The terminator is designed to absorb the signal when
the signal reaches the end, preventing signal bounce. If there is no termination, the
entire network fails because of signal bounce, which also means that if there is ever
a break in the cable, you will have unterminated ends and the entire network will go
down, as shown in Figure 1-5.