At 13:15 -0400 08/18/2002, PowerBooks wrote: >Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:41:51 -0700 >From: Clark Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>At 4:59 PM -0600 8/17/02, Andrew Kershaw wrote: >>I seem to recall hearing at one time or another that it is possible to >>use your home telephone wires (the ones in the wall) in conjunction >>with a PhoneNet LocalTalk adapter to run a small network to multiple >>rooms in a house... Is this possible? > > >Yeah, I've done it. LocalTalk runs on a spare set of wires (not >connected to the phone company. It connects using the outer pair in >a standard phone jack (RJ-11). PhoneNet uses the yellow and black wires, to add a bit more detail. A typical phone cable uses the red and green wires. The Y&B are the outer wires, the R&G are the inner wires. Some cables (especially those included with modems) may only have the inner two wires. I spent hours troubleshooting once, before figuring that out. Sigh. There is a great deal of variation in how houses are wired, especially older houses. It is possible that the Y&B might be in use if there is a second line but it is not a certainty and should be unlikely for houses wired in the last decade or so. There may only be three wires in a much older house. Also, you may find that the Y&B are present at each jack, but that they are not actually connected together between jacks. This is especially likely if all the lines run separately back to a junction box where only the R&G were connected to anything. But you can connect the Y&B lines up yourself at the box. Years ago when I did this trick I did find that PhoneNet on the same cable as the phone line puts noise on the phone line. At least, when I was printing to my AT IWII I could hear a stuttering/buzzing sound on the phone. If you are wired for 10BT and are not using it for anything else, you can use that wiring. The RJ45 jack (wide 8 pin jack) will take the RJ11 plug just fine and the wires will hook up properly. You'll just need to tie the appropriate wires together whereever the other ends of those lines come together. I wired my house with Cat. 5 a few years ago--spent about two weeks in the attic. :-) Anywhere I put a wall plate I put at least two RJ45 jacks on the plate (four anywhere a computer might go) with corresponding cables back to the wiring closet (top shelf of coat closet). I also took the incoming phone lines and ran them to the wiring closet. With plenty of jacks to each room, I run my telephone, ethernet and LocalTalk/PhoneNet on the Cat. 5 lines. With panels in the closet it's easy to hook a given line up to whatever service I want. It also makes reconfiguring the telephone extensions in the house a breeze. Jeff Walther -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
