ON Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 04:03:30PM -0500, Austad, Jay wrote: 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Brian [mailto:lxy at cloudnet.com] 
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 2:29 PM
> > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org
> > Subject: [TCLUG] Cat 5 Y-adapters?
> > 
> > 
> > I realize this is a bad idea, but in my application I think 
> > it will be Good Enough(tm).  In my fiancee's apartment I have 
> > a Cat5 cable running from the living room to the geek lounge. 
> >  The cable modem is in the living room because there's no 
> > cable TV connectors in any other room.  I now want to put a 
> > WebTV type component into the entertainment center but it 
> > needs to be inside the firewall.  Is there such thing as a Y 
> > adapter that I could split 1 Cat5 run into 2 ethernet lines?  
> > Yes, I realize it would break the standard but seeing as how 
> > one line is connecting to my cable modem (2 Mb/sec max) and 
> > the other will be 10 Mb/s, it should work.  Does anybody sell 
> > these or is this just a dumb idea and I should have no 
> > business trying?
>
> I don't think you can do this.  You need to buy a hub or a switch.  Ethernet
> is not like phone wiring.

Not entirely true. You most certainly can split 10baseT Ethernet over Cat 5 
by using 4 wires per end. But "can" does not imply "should" and you'll be
a network administrator in one of the deeper circles of Hell if you do. 

-- 
Michael