Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Thu, 13 May 2004, David Lane wrote:

> Office Max used to sell a little cross-over adapter like you need.I don't
> know if they still carry it but it was cheap.
> 
> David Lane
> 

Thanks, I looked on line for 'crossover adapter' and found F to Male for 
$6 (plug this onto the end of a patch cord to convert it), and for the 
same price also female to female (use it to connect two patch cords to 
make a longer crossover). 

My neighbor has a crossover-type setup running from downstairs to upstairs 
along the stairway, with two straight cables (25' each) and one cheap hub 
instead of an adapter.

I found a couple of articles on how to make your own crossover cables -
you need the cable (solid or stranded) and the correct plugs (for solid or
stranded, but some work with both).  www.lanshack.com sells the cable by
the foot, and the plugs, and had a lot of information.   You need a 
crimping tool (the one for phone cords does not work, we checked just now) 
and a cutting tool (scissors will do).  

lanshack (lanshak?) also sells 5' crossover cables premade for $3.65, 
which is about half the price of an adapter.  Presumably some local store 
also has them cheaper than the cost of an adapter or tools and parts.  

The guy at the yard sale said he would hunt me up another crossover cable.  
We had offered to take five unwanted computers and a bunch of related junk 
off his hands.  And I still have the offer of a BNC cable which I hope has 
the correct terminators already. 

I was sure I would never have any need for networking (just like I was 
sure when I bought my first computer that I did not need expansion slots, 
or a hard drive, just for wordprocessing).  It is exciting to transfer 
147MB in 2 minutes (10Mbit/sec).  I hear they are now up to 1Gbit cards.