Resent-Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 00:25:00 -0500
To: Amy Chused <achused@solarium.org>
Cc: elbow-joints@haven.org
Subject: Re: ethernet and heat 
From: Jay Sekora <js@aq.org>
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 00:25:13 -0500
Message-Id: <3155.981609913@js.aq.org>
Sender: js@aq.org
Resent-Message-Id: <"YAdv92.0.qF5.isYWw"@opal.haven.org>
Resent-From: elbow-joints@haven.org
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Resent-Sender: elbow-joints-request@haven.org

> 1.  I need to bring ethernet from an upstairs room, which is going to be a 
> study again, to a downstairs room, which is going to be where my brother 
> keeps his computer.  [...]  All I need to do is recrimp the ends.
> 
> Unfortunately, it's been too long.  I don't have a crimping tool.  I don't 
> have spare end bits.  And I don't even remember the proper order of the 
> colors in the crimped ends.
> 
> Can anyone out there lend me a crimping tool and pointers as to how to 
> recrimp, or perhaps lend me a few minutes of their time and crimp 'em for me?

It sounds like you're planning on crimping on RJ-45 plugs, and connecting 
them right inhto the PC and and the hub, right?  For that, yes, you'd 
need a crimper.

What I did instead was buy wall-mount jacks.  For that, you don't
need a crimper; you just clip off the outer grey casing and push the
little wires in their multi-coloured insulation through the little
colour-coded metal grooves, clip on a plastic cover that forces the
wires down tight so the insulation is pierced, and trim off the ends.
Then screw the jack into the baseboard or tape it on with (usually
supplied) double-faced tape.  The advantage of this is that it looks
a bit more professional, and you can provide two ports per cat5 cable
if you're careful (need to pay attention to colour correspondences).
The disadvantage is that it's more expensive and you end up needing
additional patch cables to connect the PC to the jack you just put in.
(On the other hand, that also makes it easier to move the PC across the
room if you need to - just get a longer patch cable.)

HOWEVER, I had mixed success with different brands of jacks.  One 
brand I could usually get to work, but with several tries, one brand 
I didn't manage to get to work at all, and one brand worked fine first 
time every time.

The brand I was happiest with was Dartek item number 83826, `CAT
5 PREASSEMBLED RJ45 SURFACE MOUNT BLOCK, 2 PORTS', ordered on-line
from dartek.com for about $9 a piece.  I don't know who the actual
manufacturer is.

In any case, for your reading pleasure, here are a whole bunch of Ethernet
wiring URLs I found when I was doing this.  You will definitely find
all you need to know about colour coding among all this. :-)

  http://www.netspec.com/helpdesk/wiredoc.html
    Wiring Tutorial for 10BaseT Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
  
  http://www.wsrcc.com/wolfgang/cat5/
    Cat5 To Every Room of the House
  
  http://www.onion.demon.co.uk/copied/10btcabl/10btcabl.htm
    10baseT Cable Wiring Standards
  
  http://florida.linuxusers.org/howto/10BaseT-jack.html
    Wiring 10Base-T Jacks
  
  http://yoda.uvi.edu/InfoTech/rj45.htm
    RJ - 45 wiring standard
    (Telephone as well as Ethernet info)
  
  http://www.cpe.surrey.ac.uk/support/utp.htm
    10Base-T/100Base-TX CAT5 Pinouts, Pairs and Colours
  
  http://www.uni-trier.de/infos/ether/ethernet-guide/ethernet-guide.html
    Guide to Ethernet
    (an overview, doesn't get as grungy as wiring diagrams)
  
  http://www.the-dentons.com/Thomas/networking/cabling.htm
    (brief overview of types of cables and connections)
  
  http://www.landfield.com/faqs/LANs/cabling-faq/section-11.html
    12.0 Ethernet 10Base-T Cabling
    (ASCII patch- and crossover-cable diagrams)

Cheers,

-j.

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