HOW TO MAKE
YOUR OWN CAT 5 TWISTED-PAIR NETWORK CABLES Last updated: 1/18/2001
INTRODUCTION.The
purpose of this article is to show you how to make the two kinds of
cables which can be used to network two or more computers together
to form quick and simple home or small office local area networks
(LANs). These instructions can also be used to make patch
cables for networks with more complex infrastructure
wiring.
The two most common unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) network standards are the10 Mhz 10BASE-T Ethernet and the
100Mhz 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet. The 100BASE-TX standard
is quickly becoming the predominant LAN standard. If you are
starting from scratch, to build a small home or office network, this
is clearly the standard you should choose. This article will
show you how to make cables which will work with both
standards.
LANS SIMPLIFIED. A LAN can
be as simple as two computers, each having a network interface card
(NIC) or network adapter and running network software, connected
together with a crossover cable.
The next step up would be a network
consisting of three or more computers and a hub. Each of the
computers is plugged into the hub with a straight-thru
cable (the crossover function is performed by the
hub).