At 1053556552s since epoch (05/21/03 11:35:52 -0400 UTC), Grzegorz B. Prokopski wrote: > Long time ago I've read that 100mbit ethernet uses only 2 pairs > which leaves half of wires unused and thus when there's such a > need - these can be used to create second 100mbit connection > on the same cable (and connect second computer w/o the need of > another cable). Ethernet does only use 4 of the 8 wires in the cable. I think that the original idea was to carry voice and data over the same cable. To that end, the only time I've seen one cable used for two computers was in a wall jack. You take the cable from the conduit, use half of the wires for one jack, and the other half for the second jack. On the other end, you'll have to spit the wire and punch down two connectors for the wire. I've seen solutions that come pre-made for this; they come as pairs of plugs that use the same pinout on both ends. One plug has two sockets (female), and its complement has two male plugs that can be inserted into a patch panel or hub. Give Blackbox (www.blackbox.com) a call; I'm sure they have the parts. You can do this yourself, using plugs and jacks as necessary. Be very aware, however, that making custom cables (especially 100Mbs ones) can be difficult. The wires in ethernet cable are all twisted to prevent interference, and untwisting them too much can result in a bad connection. So, when you strip the cable to connect the wires, make sure you connect the terminators as close as you possibly can. As for which cables to use, just look on google for a diagram of making a crossover cable. That will show you which of the 4 wires are normally used, and you can duplicate that pinout twice for your solution. Best of luck! Jason -- Jason Healy http://www.logn.net/
Attachment:
pgpVl8oNUjnvD.pgp
Description: PGP signature