Crossover and Standard Network? difference?

[IPEX computing]

Hi i am trying to network tow pc's together and due to various factors wireless is not an option so therefore it will have to be cable.

i have been told i will need a Crossover RJ45 cable as opposed to a standard Rj45 cable.

cna someon tell what the difference is and how i can tell.

thanks

 

[Ididmyc600]

Hi

In a nutshell

The talk pin of a straight through is connected to a talk pin and the recieve pin is connected to a recieve pin, which means that it wouldnt work with 2 computers, however a cross over is wired with the talk pin connected to a receive pin and a receive pin connected to a talk pin.

To tell them apart is easy, look at the glass plug and the coloured wires, in a straight through the colour pattern of the wires is the same at either end, in a crossover some of the wires (i cant remember if its 2 or 4) are connected to different pins so the colour pattern is different.

Its actually a bit more complicated than that as there are 8 wires in a cable but you need a crossover cable to link 2 pc's together.

If you want to use straight through cables then you need a hub, if you only intend to use 2 pc's forever then its a moot point, however should you think that your network may grow over time, then buy a hub as it means that you can easily add more PC's should the time come.

I started with 2 PC's and a crossover cable many years back, I know have 4 laptops on wireless and 3 PC's on cable, I never thought back then that there would ever be more than 2 PC's.

Regards

 

[IPEX computing]

brillitant

thanks great help know what to do now

cheers
james

 

[DelJo63]

99.9% of the time we use Standard cat5 cables.
The ususal exception is a crossover between to systems.

 

[NetCablesPlus]

A crossover cable can be used to connect two PC's together, however, you will save yourself a lot of aggravation over time, if you buy a cheap hub or switch and connect the two PC's with straight-through cables. Hubs are so cheap these days that it no longer makes sense to connect two PC's together directly, IMO.