[X Newbies] upgrading

[Florin Alexander Neumann]

On Saturday, Aug 30, 2003, at 08:59 Canada/Eastern, The Macintosh Lady  
wrote:

> Yes they did say was was a tan, PCI Mac or G3 if I remember correctly.
> And both would have to be "new" to crossover without a crossover cable.

Not according to Apple. See article id 42717.

http://kbase.info.apple.com/ 
viewdoc.jsp?locale=en_US&searchMode=Expert&type=id&docID=KC.42717_E

The operative statement is:

"Note: MDI devices connected to Auto-MDIX devices do not require a  
crossover Ethernet cable."

Older Macs are MDI. Newer ones (including, I believe, John's iMac) are  
Auto-MDIX.

> to crossover without a crossover cable

A note on "crossover". The term (in usage long before the Ethernet)  
does not refer, as your comment suggests, to linking two devices  
directly, but to the switching (or reversing) of the pins of the signal  
interface. In the simplest terms, visualize a cable with two wires  
(conductors) and a two-pin connector at each end. The pins are 1 and 2,  
the connectors A and B. When A1 is connected to B1 and A2 to B2, you  
have a straight-through cable. When A1 is connected to B2 and A2 to B1,  
you have a crossover cable. In other words, "crossover without a  
crossover cable" is, technically speaking, nonsense.

f