quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Not foil shielding, unless you specifically buy shielded cable, but plastic barrier that physically separates the wiring, space is a form of shielding.

Sorry, no. It is a longitudinal separator, designed to maintain the structural integrity of the cable. Specifically: The physical relationship between the four pairs. It is not "shielding" in any sense of the word. Nor are plastic or air considered "shielding." At least not in any electronics theory I've ever studied. Dielectrics: Yes, certainly. Shielding: No.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ensigmatic,

quote:

Dialectics: Yes, certainly. Shielding: No.

Not sure what that word means, but with electronic interference, space is your friend. Just like you wouldn't want to run cable next to electrical wiring or across ballasts. Physical separation helps for interference. Either way my point was 5e and 6 are different in their construction which leads to better speed due to less interference inside of wiring vs actual shielding. I'm not an expert on the physics of it so I may be using wrong terminology. But we are making same point I think?

I'm just going to jump in and say that no matter whether you use CAT5 or CAT6, if you're not building your own cables you're cheating.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
I'm just going to jump in and say that no matter whether you use CAT5 or CAT6, if you're not building your own cables you're cheating.

And when crimping plugs, remember, if the 3rd time is the charm, get ready for a lightning strike.

Moved my mom's cable between WAN & router the other day. Should have been really easy -drop ceiling, plenty of extra slack, not stapled down anywhere- but some dumbass put a wall up & left 1/8" of space between a 2x4 header & the main beam - wire pulled easily, but connector was juuuust too big to pass through.
SOOO - trip back home (1 mile) for crimper/plugs. Then after the first time it failed, another trip back home to get my cheapie cable tester. All lights up correctly, so try again. no dice (POE works, no communication). 3rd try realized I was forgetting to split G & G/W pair.....
1.5hrs for something that should have taken 10 minutes. No wonder I always use keystones...

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Dialectics: Yes, certainly. Shielding: No.

Not sure what that word means, but with electronic interference, space is your friend. Just like you wouldn't want to run cable next to electrical wiring or across ballasts. Physical separation helps for interference. Either way my point was 5e and 6 are different in their construction which leads to better speed due to less interference inside of wiring vs actual shielding. I'm not an expert on the physics of it so I may be using wrong terminology. But we are making same point I think?

Where is arcwelder when you need him? Reading this thread and knowing Skins background I thought this was going to go the direction of arc shielding made of plastic. Which is indeed a different meaning for the word shield as it relates to electrical things compared to electromagnetic shields. But there are arc shields made of plastic. . Just saying. But the thread didn’t go that direction.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
3rd try realized I was forgetting to split G & G/W pair.....

Have done so many of those I have TIA/EIA-568B memorized:

orange/white, orange, green/white, blue, blue/white, green, brown/white, brown

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
1.5hrs for something that should have taken 10 minutes. No wonder I always use keystones...

BTDT. Plumbing. Plumbing does it to me every time

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Dialectics: Yes, certainly. Shielding: No.

Not sure what that word means, but with electronic interference, space is your friend.

In this case the word is, as I wrote, earlier (and badly misspelled): Dielectric.

I like Firefold for patch cables and supplies. I'd rather put a keystone jack in the wall and use the punchdown than put a modular plug on a cable end.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Not foil shielding, unless you specifically buy shielded cable, but plastic barrier that physically separates the wiring, space is a form of shielding.

Sorry, no. It is a longitudinal separator, designed to maintain the structural integrity of the cable. Specifically: The physical relationship between the four pairs. It is not "shielding" in any sense of the word. Nor are plastic or air considered "shielding." At least not in any electronics theory I've ever studied. Dielectrics: Yes, certainly. Shielding: No.

Was going to reply simply that's what I get for trusting wire company reps feeding me free food to listen to them. Then I decided to Google it. Was a waste of time. It appears to serve both functions. Cuts down interference and maintains spacing so that the wire characteristics remain the same. I even got so far as to read a thread from techies on it. They argued some for structural integrity, some for signal noise. It appears to do both, from 30 minutes of searching I felt like doing.

Here's an older article talking about it.

The threads above that sound like they know a lot of stuff, generally do. The ones that say "...I think..." or similar, not so much.

Having said that, it's all about two things:

1. Specs. Is the cable/ hardware rated for your application (i.e., speed)? This is the easy part, all on the manufacturers' websites.

2. Installation. Which includes not pulling too hard, not bending too sharp (radius > 1" or so MINIMUM, including in the electrical boxes), and proper termination. I recommend terminating to keystones/ jacks. Crimping plugs is notoriously fickle with even the right tools, which you won't get at a big box. Then you can use factory-terminated patch cables on either end.

- IntrepidTraveler, BICSI RCDD

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
They argued some for structural integrity, some for signal noise. It appears to do both, from 30 minutes of searching I felt like doing.

They achieve the bandwidth they do over twisted pairs by establishing very precise relationships between the individual conductors in the pairs and between the four pairs. That longitudinal separator helps ensure those are maintained in two ways: Preserving the spacing between the pairs and lending a bit of rigidity to the cable to help preserve the twist in the individual pairs. So, yes: It does both. But it achieves the latter by accomplishing the former.

What you are looking for, to switch one monitor between two computers, is called a KVM Switch.

Keyboard/Video/Mouse Switch.

Look for one with the appropriate inputs and the appropriate outputs.

It's not all smooth sailing though. With some laptops (your Mac?), when you switch the video away, the computer will sense the port as having been unplugged--which will then change the video settings on the computer (multi-desktop, vs single display).

They make KVM switches that will maintain power to the unused input ports, so that the computer thinks the monitor is still plugged in. This will require some thinking/consideration on your part to decide if this is a desirable feature.

Also, do something about that VGA connector. With the KVM, you should also upgrade the connection from your PC to the KVM-- DVI-I at the least, then HDMI, and lately DisplayPort.

Use caution when routing. There is a minimum bend radius for both Cat5 and Cat6 cables.
Cat5 = 1"
Cat6 = 1.65"