I just recently found out about Ethernet, and I use a crossover cable to network my 9500 and Powerbook (the cable was about $15 at Office Depot; mine is yellow. It's usually a color other than black, so it won't be confused with a 'normal' Eternet cable...)
I've seen crossover cables in many colors, including black. There is no normal color for Ethernet cables. It should be marked as crossover but many are not.
Connecting the two computers with the Ethernet crossover cable allows me to transer files (and share programs!) between the two at, what seems to me, impressive speeds. Sure beats the hell out of moving Zip disks back and fourth! I run programs on my desktop 9500 that are on my Powerbook's hard drive! Too cool!
I started with LocalTalk and then moved up to Ethernet several years ago. Then a few years ago I moved up to 100BaseT and now I also running wireless. This is all in my household network. Most user files are stored on a dedicated file server thus allowing access to them from any computer in the house (without having to startup a particular users machine. I use aliases to cross index the whole network so I can get to a file with a simple double click regardless of where it is.
(The crossover cable is ONLY when you are connecting 2 computers directly together, nothing else is needed, just the crossover cable; if you want to have more than 2 computers on the same Ethernet network, then it requires a network hub; but you'd have to ask someone else about that!)
A hub is still a good idea even if you only have two computers. With a crossover cable if you start up a single computer (depending on model) it won't see a network (since the other computer is off) and will revert to LocalTalk (one of the dumber things Apple did).
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