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Computer Network Wiring |
| The wiring or cabling is a necessary part of networking. Wiring provides
the physical connection between computers, and is used to transmit and receive
information. If I were building a new home today I would install cable for networking, as
well as cable television and telephone, in most rooms of the house. Believe me, having
gone the retrofitting route, this is the easiest time to have networking cables installed
in the home. There are two types of wiring most often in use, coaxial cable(10Base-2)
and twisted pair(10Base-T). Coaxial cable looks like You can mix 10Base-2 and 10Base-T cabling when you use a hub. Twisted pair is the other type of cabling. It is similar to common phone wire, but it
is a higher grade of cabling, allowing Twisted-pair wiring requires the use of a hub. A hub is a central device that allows all the devices on the network to be connected together. A simple networking hub should cost no more than about $100. Every computer on your home network will have a cable that connects to the hub. Installing the wiring in your home is relatively easy to do; it is no different than setting up a new room for a cable television outlet or a new phone jack. I prefer to run the wire can be run through the walls like telephone wire. However, you can run the wire outside through a window, or can even be placed under the carpeting for shorter distances. If you feel uncomfortable running the wiring yourself, you may want to pay someone to install it for you, but it is easier than you think. |
the
same cabling that runs between a television and VCR. It is different, however, in that
coaxial cable used for television is 75 ohm (RGU59) type cable, where as Ethernet coaxial
cable is 50 ohm (RGU58) type cable. Additionally, the connectors are different; Ethernet
cable twists on rather than screwing on like television cable connectors. Coaxial cable is
used less frequently today, but may be used for two computers that are positioned close
together. I remember some of early days of 10Base-2 when I thought I would be wise and
neat and make some short cables so I wouldn't have a bunch of cable coiled up. The
shortest piece of coax can not be less than 1 meter in length. Also if you are
planning to run 100 "meg" ethernet cards you will be forced to 10Base-T and CatV
wire.
high-speed data to travel over it. Twisted pair cabling is used by the majority
of networks today because it is relatively inexpensive and is very flexible. The longeset
cable segment in 10Base-T can not be over 325 feet.