Well, most wireless routers have 4 ethernet ports in back, so you could run wires from one of those like you are proposing. In time, you could always add wireless cards to your machines, should you ever wish to do so. Otherwise, no, I don't see any problem running wires around the house, except for the unsightliness of it. Ethernet cables can run a considerable distance without problems. Not sure how far exactly, but I'm pretty sure 100'+ runs are fine.
Stringing cables look bad. Spend the extra money and go wireless. Your transfer rates are controlled more by your hard drive read / write than by the cable or wireless speed. Most large files that I have transferred go at a rate between 6 and 10 Mbps which is way below the 54Mbps for the airport extreme or the 100 Mbps for the ethernet cable.
can someone give me some basic information on ethernet cables?
what are 'cross over' cables, and what is the alternative?
i assume they have particular jobs?
Ethernet cables are low-voltage signal carrying cables.
They can be made with several different connectors, but by far the most common today is the RJ-45 connector, which looks exactly like a regular clear plastic telephone connector except that it is bigger.
To keep it simple, the rule about crossover is that you only need a crossover cable when connecting one computer directly to another, without a router or hub. In practice, many if not most of modern routers/computers/hubs have auto-detect so that they automatically do the right thing no matter if you connect a crossover cable or a straight cable.
The difference between a crossover cable and a regular cable is only in how the internal wires come out the connector - some of the wires come out at a different position on one end than on the other in a crossover cable - in other words, wire A may be on the second position on one end of the cable but come out on the fourth position on the other end - thus "crossing over" within the cable. There are ways to hold up the clear plastic RJ-45 connectors to look at the order of the wires to see if one has a crossover cable or not - you hold up the two connectors of a cable next to each other and the colored wires will look the same order if the cable is straight-thru.
There are pictures that you can find if you search for "crossover cable" on Google.
thanks. that site has a heap of information, i had a quick look.
ive got an idea of what im going to do now.
Step 1: Get a cheap router (simple, does the job well)
Step 2: Get a LINKSYS USB 2.0 Network Storage Link so that i can share my ext. HD over a network
Step 3: Get 20m of ethernet cable
My only concern is finding the LINKSYS Storage Link. Ive only seen them in the US so far, but as i live in Australia this could be a problem (as i requires an external AC power supply, i believe).
Does anyone know if it would work if i could find an adapter from US voltage to Australian voltage?(we have 240 volts here, while you've 220)
Look at Maxtor . They are world wide and their Shared Storage unit sounds like what you want.
Sorry about that. That was a windows only unit.
reg
It's Windows only? What a bummer. Oh well, im only looking at the moment. But it did seem to do exactly what i wanted. Im looking at the Maxtor website now.
Thanks for letting me know. (it just makes me think that before i buy anything im going to run it past you all)
Comments
Originally posted by Wingnut
I don't see any problem running wires around the house, except for the unsightliness of it.
if i could get my hands on a length white cable then that wouldn't look that bad against the paintwork.
Also, what is the maximum data transfer rate in an ethernet cable. How many mbps?
reg
what are 'cross over' cables, and what is the alternative?
i assume they have particular jobs?
Originally posted by spiers69
can someone give me some basic information on ethernet cables?
what are 'cross over' cables, and what is the alternative?
i assume they have particular jobs?
Ethernet cables are low-voltage signal carrying cables.
They can be made with several different connectors, but by far the most common today is the RJ-45 connector, which looks exactly like a regular clear plastic telephone connector except that it is bigger.
To keep it simple, the rule about crossover is that you only need a crossover cable when connecting one computer directly to another, without a router or hub. In practice, many if not most of modern routers/computers/hubs have auto-detect so that they automatically do the right thing no matter if you connect a crossover cable or a straight cable.
The difference between a crossover cable and a regular cable is only in how the internal wires come out the connector - some of the wires come out at a different position on one end than on the other in a crossover cable - in other words, wire A may be on the second position on one end of the cable but come out on the fourth position on the other end - thus "crossing over" within the cable. There are ways to hold up the clear plastic RJ-45 connectors to look at the order of the wires to see if one has a crossover cable or not - you hold up the two connectors of a cable next to each other and the colored wires will look the same order if the cable is straight-thru.
There are pictures that you can find if you search for "crossover cable" on Google.
ive got an idea of what im going to do now.
Step 1: Get a cheap router (simple, does the job well)
Step 2: Get a LINKSYS USB 2.0 Network Storage Link so that i can share my ext. HD over a network
Step 3: Get 20m of ethernet cable
My only concern is finding the LINKSYS Storage Link. Ive only seen them in the US so far, but as i live in Australia this could be a problem (as i requires an external AC power supply, i believe).
Does anyone know if it would work if i could find an adapter from US voltage to Australian voltage?(we have 240 volts here, while you've 220)
thanks
Sorry about that. That was a windows only unit.
reg
Originally posted by reg
Look at Maxtor . They are world wide and their Shared Storage unit sounds like what you want.
Sorry about that. That was a windows only unit.
reg
It's Windows only? What a bummer. Oh well, im only looking at the moment. But it did seem to do exactly what i wanted. Im looking at the Maxtor website now.
Thanks for letting me know. (it just makes me think that before i buy anything im going to run it past you all)
thanks
it has a USB plug so that a HD can be attached (like i want) but i dont know if it's USB 1.1 or 2.0?
also, how good is it as a regular router and not wireless? (it has 4 ports in the back)
to use it as a regular router i'd just run ethernet cables into it as you would with a wired one, right? no big deal
Here's a link to it.
thanks