[PLUG] Docking Station! was: Right angle cat6

alan alan at clueserver.org
Fri Oct 26 16:22:04 UTC 2007


On Fri, 26 Oct 2007, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> On 25 Oct 2007 23:22:03 -0700
> Russell Senior <russell at personaltelco.net> dijo:
>
>> Ronald> I've seen networks crippled by 20-30% throughput by people
>> Ronald> "neatening" their connections, throwing harsh right angles
>> Ronald> into the mix, or cramming/crimping them all together with zip
>> Ronald> ties, or using poor lengths for patch cords (etc. etc.). It's
>> Ronald> fairly counter-intuitive, and meaningless for idle
>> Ronald> net-surfing, but if you really need to squeeze *every last
>> Ronald> drop* out of your cables, it's nice to know the dark arts (aka
>> Ronald> "standards based on science") for cable handling.
>
>> And this argues against my hoop staple idea exactly how?!
>
> I have no engineering degrees and physics was a long time ago, but I do
> know what "impedance" means.
>
> At the same time I have a substantial knowledge of the world of
> business, and I see a very good business opportunity here. The product
> I am seeking does not exist. If you went into business manufacturing it
> you would have a technical monopoly. Considering the interest on this
> list and the comments by PCHcables, it sounds as though one could make
> a tidy sum on such an enterprise. The real profit comes at the end when
> you sell the business and the patents to BigNameCorporation.

Even worse, you can get crosstalk between the cables.

Many years ago when I was a PICK programmer (shows you how old I am), I 
worked at a place that had their minicomputer in the old mainframe area. 
Instead of using the arcnet pods as designed, they ran unsheilded cable to 
the various terminals.  And since they did not want to make a bigger hole 
in the wall when they added more terminals, they would just tighten the 
cable ties.  I tried tracing a line with a toner and EVERY cable lit up.

Not the worst though.  A similar business I worked at ran the lines for 
hundreds of feet through a warehouse instead of using the arcnet pods. 
They wound up creating a giant dish antenna.  Every time someone keyed 
their mike in the industrial park, the network would go haywire.

Occasionally I still see such sillyness.  (Ethernet over florecent light 
ballasts, Echerian network configuration, Unterminated cat-2 to nowhere, 
etc.)

Desktop computers just give you a more localized way to mess things up.

-- 
Q: Why do programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas?
A: Because OCT 31 == DEC 25.



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