They don't actually use Chinese prison labor, there's a ton of youtube videos on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDi8a3Txyb0 Everything except for sticking the individual wires in the plug is automated, and even that, well they cheat - they use 2 part ethernet plus that have an "inside" part that makes it easy to insert the wires, and an "outside" part that clamps down on the wires. So the finished cable looks like the old school ones where you have a complete cable head that you are sticking the wires into. Ted -----Original Message----- From: PLUG <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Russell Senior Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2024 2:41 AM To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [PLUG] question on ethernet couplers (RJCLIP) Both in my work building networks with the Personal Telco Project and otherwise, I have crimped many many ethernet cables, customized to a particular run. It is a useful and empowering skill to cultivate. That said, it isn't fast and it isn't always reliable. I once joked that if I was employed in the Chinese Prison Labor camps where commercial cables come from, I would sleep many nights without my bowl of rice for having failed to deliver my daily quota past quality control. One of the things to have, *in addition to the crimper* and tips, is a tester. When crimping a custom length you are typically crimping two ends. Your cheap $10 tester will only tell you that at *least* one of the ends is bad, but not which one. Which leads to close inspection, best guesses, re-crimping and retesting. Sometimes your best guesses are wrong, or (indistinguishably) you screwed up the re-crimp too. Eventually, we invested in a $500 Fluke Microscanner 2. That will tell you *which* end you screwed up. There is definitely a place for commercially crimped patch cables. -- Russell Senior [email protected]
