Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cabling

Ah, obsolence.

converge — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:08:18 -0800

I'd like to hook up my new laptop to my old TV, but I can't find the parts. Care to help? Video and audio outputs on the laptop: VGA, HDMI, SPDIF. I also have a headphone jack and a couple of free USB ports.
Inputs on the TV: Component, RCA, and SVideo.
The laptop's an HP Pavilion dv7-1270. TV's an older Sony Trinitron.

I know any solutions will not involve HD, as the TV won't support it. I'm cool with that, though I would like to watch Blu-Ray movies on it anyway (laptop has a drive).

Any suggestions? Do I really need to buy a receiver? Would even that work?

Help me with VGA cabling?

wabashbdw — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:47:25 -0800

I want to plug a VGA cable into the wall and have the LCD TV on the other end of the room display the information. How do I do this? Not a lot to explain, other than it is for a conference room. We are thinking about putting two LCD TVs on one wall (for presentations) and would like to plug in a laptop into another wall and have the output go to both TVs simultaneously.

I know nothing about these things, but I have a feeling are important to consider:
1) Distance from wall-jack to TVs is 40-50ft. Do I need special cabling to keep from losing too much signal over that distance?
2)Presenting computer only has VGA output, but I'm willing to consider wiring for DVI at the same time if everyone feels it's necessary.
3)The signal needs to split at some point so that it can run to both TVs. Anything special I need to accomplish this?
4)I've seen VGA wall-mounts on the internet, but I don't know what the back looks like. Do I just basically plug a VGA extension cable into the back and run it through the wall?

Thanks for everyone's help. This probably shouldn't be a terribly difficult project, but looks daunting to someone unfamiliar with the requirements.

Spiral-shaped vertical cable conduit

mendel — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:32:30 -0800

Help me find this spirally alternative to jiffy poles for office wiring. I'm about to have a new office wired for network, voice and power, and some of the clusters of desks are islands, not near a wall. Usually you'd run cables to those using jiffy poles, those hollow poles that go up to the ceiling and have power and network jacks at the bottom.

But a while ago, on some design blog, I saw photos of an office that had some sort of plastic coil to run the cabling through. It looked like a spiral hose or like the tubing they use at quick oil change places, and for all I know it might have been exactly that.

I can't remember where I saw it, but I'd like to investigate that for the new office. Does anyone know of something like this, or know where I might have seen it?

How should I terminate this cable?

hxc — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:31:31 -0800

In need of some networking advice, how to terminate a cable on the switch side. As always more information after the jump. I am in charge of networking a switch to ten drops. I am currently deployed and the only thing I could get for the rooms is a dual port surface mounted boxes. I will only be using one port per room. The instructions say to terminate at the box in this fashion

T568B
White/Orange
Orange
White/Blue
Blue
White/Green
Green
White/Brown
Brown

I need to figure out how I will terminate the switch end of the cable. Straight Through, Crossover, or what?

Cable Management For Dummies?

yellowbkpk — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:36:55 -0800

Where can I find a simple tutorial on structured cabling? I am a software engineer that has recently started working on my team's build servers. The build servers are in a rack with a very messy blob of cables hanging off the back of the rack. Since I've had to start fiddling with the cables, I decided to take on the task of making the cables "prettier."

This leads me to my question: where can I find a tutorial on structured cabling? My Google searches come up with stores that sell cable management hardware. I'm looking for something that looks like this:

Materials: 

1. infinity meters of velcro ties



Procedure:

1. Do this

2. ???

3. Easy cables!

Some more details: we have 2 or 3 cat-5 cables going to each of the 10 or 12 machines (thankfully, they are currently color coded), power cables running to PDUs, and a few servers need to be run off of a UPS.

Future proof my cabling please !

southof40 — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:39:57 -0800

My house is completely wrecked. No cladding on the walls and in fact not too many walls. In four weeks time the builders will have built replacement walls and re-clad them. I need advice about what I should do about audio/video/data cabling for future needs and I need it soon ! We are in the middle of having our house rebuilt. I'm very aware this is a great opportunity to run cable but I need advice about would good things to do now whilst it's easy to run cable etc.

The budget is already groaning so what I'm looking to do is as little as possible now - basically run the cable or whatever and not hook it up to anything just yet.

I should probably also say that no one in the house is a audio/videophile - as long as it doesn't sound like a 78/look like YouTube we're probably going to think it's alright.

Here are some specific questions.

1. Is there a form of conduiting that would allow cables to be pulled through later which is a similar cost to running cables now ?

2. Audio (one-source at a time, on/off in different rooms) - is speaker cable with on/off speakers the best low-tech option ?

3. We're not really big on any form of video but I'm sure part of our future is wishing to view videos stored on the various computers around the house - for non-fanatical use what's a reasonable approach ?

4. We already use wireless for data. Is there anything in the foreseeable future which would make me wish I'd run cable for data ?

5. Phones - all current phones are cordless. Is there any reason to do anything other than get a couple of jacks for cordless base stations ?

How do I wire a network socket with 2 ports?

chillmost — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 02:15:17 -0800

If i want to install a network socket box in an office, each with 2 ports, how do I wire it? I have been tasked with wiring up a few newly available offices at my company in order to get them on to the network. I know how to do this for both ends of a CAT5 cable and I am no stranger to wiring up a simple network with a router and a few hubs and switches.

For this project however, I want it to look nice and pretty with this kind of network jack (German) installed on the wall. Each box has 2 RJ-45 jacks on it. I have searched and searched but I can not determine if there is a special way to wire this sort of connection.

Do I run 2 lengths of CAT5 to each box (thus doubling the expense of cable)?
or do I affix the end of one cable to the back and the internal wiring takes care of the rest?
Or, do I have to really use my brain and figure out how to carry 2 data channels over 1 length of CAT5, employing some sort of y-splitter cable?
something else?

I mention the idea with the y-splitter because I know that with 4-twisted pairs, it is possible, in theory, to be done but I'm not sure if it is practical or common in this situation. Would anyone with experience care to drop some knowledge about how this is done?

I called the place selling this but they (sales) weren't really helpful.
Da fragen Sie mich viel zu viel!

Is it possible to very quickly learn how to terminate network cables?

aerotive — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:20:49 -0800

Good news: I have been offered a job. This job involves running and terminating network cables. Bad news: I do not really know how to terminate network cables. Please help me learn how to do so. I have worked as a computer tech/junior sysadmin for the last 5 years. No jobs where I had to know cabling in depth. For the last year I've done mostly temp/contract type jobs. I have very very limited experience terminating Cat 5 cables, I may've done 10 in my entire life, and none in the past 2-3 years. I need to be able to do this fairly efficiently by next Thursday.

So, is it possible to learn this skill that quickly? If so, can someone point me to some high-quality tutorial-style sites?

The job lasts 3-4 months, pays well, and I need the money, but I would prefer to not make a fool of myself and get fired after half a day.

Unknown DVD player control

hominid211 — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:06:53 -0800

Someone pilfered a DVD player from an interactive display that my employer designed and built. For some reason, no one seems to have record of the model of DVD player in question, and it was attached to a "menu" and "play" button via an 8-pin cable (pictures here and here.). Does anyone out in the void know of a DVD player with this kind of controller input?

Is Rj45 ethernet the same as PARTNER phone sytem cabling?

jeb — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 07:29:55 -0800

Is phone system cabling the same as straight-thru ethernet? I'm trying to set up a vintage PARTNER system in my office. It has a couple 206 modules, a brain module, and a 400 module. All the jacks are RJ45's. When I connect the phone lines to the line jacks via Rj11's, and then plug a phone into an extension jack with Rj45, the phone passes the self test. I've found this piece of info surprisingly hard to google for. Do I just use regular old ethernet cables to attach the phones to the system?

Telephone over Cat5: Is it possible without voip?

Freen — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 13:57:21 -0800

I'm setting up some telephone lines, and well, I really don't want to lay more wires than I have to. So this is the deal, I've got five telephone lines, and three telephone (rj11) jacks. We've just installed wifi, and so a number of unused ethernet cables. Is it possible to buy an adaptor that will allow me to use a cat5 cable to send plain old telephone over them? We have a room in the back where we have out ethernet switch and patch cables, as well as where verizon brings our telephone lines in. I want to be able to put in a jack, and then connect a patch cable from the rj11 telephone jack to the rj45 ethernet jack that goes from that location to the desk, then connect that cable(going from rj45 back to rj11) to a telephone, or fax machine.

I imagine there might be issues with electrical incompatibilities, or wiring incompatibilities, etc. If anyone has any ideas about other ways to do this without rewiring, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!

New Home Networking

Dick Paris — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 12:19:08 -0800

You are building a new home. What networking will you provide between your office/computer/router and a media closet in your living space? Between your office and a living room desk? Between that desk and the media closet? Details ? The media closet in your living space is one story below your office. The desk is in the living space near a bookcase. The bookcase is adjacent and below the office.
The desk stands free in the living space and is served with an in-floor (exposed concrete slab) power outlet. A computer at the living space desk will be connected to the internet and maybe a printer. It is 10' from the media closet.

It is not convenient to physically move from the office to the living space although it is easy for one person to talk to someone in the other space. You currently use wireless and wired networking. You use a Mac, an iPod and will play your entire music collection through the stereo in you media closet.

You do not need specific equipment recommendations right now. You need general thoughts on what aside from electricity might be hard wired, requiring a conduit under the slab.