Actually, probably not much of an update, as I haven't talked about this a whole lot. Last winter, I laid a bunch of cat5e cable throughout the house while it was in disrepair. This effort was to serve as the backbone of a networked house, both wireless and wired. Initially, I was going to pay a contractor to do it; in the back of my head, I could hear my Dad reminding me that I "...don't know the business end of a screwdriver". So I figured I'd just lay the cable, then pay someone to terminate the ends and set up the network.
The other day, the cable guys came and set up my internet. I hooked up an Apple TimeCapsule router to the modem and we now have screaming (for us) 10 Mbps wireless in the house. But that was just the beginning....
I watched a few videos on how to terminate cat 5e cable...and for some reason, thought I couldn't do it. So I decided to try--and I made myself an Ethernet patch cord. When I was finished, I plugged my computer into the TimeCapsule...voila....it worked!
Next step--put a 24 port switch in the basement....terminate the cable between it and the TimeCapsule...plug my laptop into the switch (with the patch cord I made)....and I had myself a home network.
Tomorrow will be spent terminating all the cables from all over the house at the switch--and then running two out to the ManCave--gotta bury a little conduit.
Don't know the business end of a screwdriver, my ass.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
8 comments:
Connect some LAN cable and all of a sudden you're a regular Mr. Goodwrench. What next, plugging in a USB connection? Seriously though, don't forget that before you have Javier dig the trench for your conduit in the 100degree heat, call Miss Utility.
With this newly discovered handyman skill, you can probably call off the contractors and finish the home renovation yourself now.
Run Cat6 to the man cave. Great job on the home networking. WiFi is very nice, but nothing beats 1Gb ethernet. You do have a 1Gb switch right?
Uhhhh....I don't know.
But yes, will run Cat 6 to the mancave.
If it's a "mancave", who is it for?
Nice one Mudge.
See? There you go. That's the difference between a pencil pushing tug-boat driving bureaucrat with rank, and a hands on Signal Corp grunt. I was splicing coax when CW was riding his Schwinn around the neighborhood. But the funny part is, he's so damned proud of himself.
It isn't that CW could not perform tasks such as soldering connectors on coaxial cable or crimping RJ45s on Cat5e/6, it is that he has chosen in the past not to perform these tasks. He was always capable. On second thought, ixnay on the oaxcay. He wasn't geekie enough to ever need coax for anything!
I'm proud of you, Bryan! two reasons: (1) I have no idea what you're talking about, so it sounds quite impressive. (2) I didn't think you'd ever do manual labor that you could simply pay someone else to do. :-)
Post a Comment