USB to ethernet adapters and macs

[Derick Centeno]

On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 18:16, christopher marcoe wrote:
> I ask the very specific question:
> 
> "Is anyone aware of a USB-to-ethernet adapter that works on apple
> hardware with any of the following Opperating Systems: OS 9.x / OS
> 10.X / YDL 3.x"
> 
> I actively use all three, although still learning linux.
> 
> WHY am I asking the question?
> My G3/900 ibook (which is a laptop, and therefor has no PCI slots..for
> those unfamiliar w/ the apple product line or laptops in general) has
> had it's built in ethernet port broken. 
> 
> Being that all ibooks also lack a PCMCIA slot/port (either 16 bit or
> 32 bit cardbus) this leaves me w/ a problem...no easy way to get an
> RJ45 ethernet port on the machine.
> 
> NOTE: apple laptops no longer have SCSI ports, so an ASANTI
> SCSI-to-ethernet adapter is also not an option on the ibook, running
> any OS.
> 
> Any actually constructive advice/links would be appreciated.  Please
> keep responces from ranting and rambling on.  If you are aware of
> other places/threads that this questions might be better served I am
> EAGER for constructive guidance.  I'd rather not be using my
> Win98/2000/XP desktop, it doesn't fit in bed or on the couch.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Chris

HI CHRIS:
I'm back...I apologize for going too far ...well, I couldn't resist.  

OK. This time there are details to work with which are indeed stated and
clearer.  I will attempt to respond reasonably well and hope (sincerely)
that what I share can be of use in some way without evoking from you
another expression of ...regret.  I had the tiniest suspicion that you
were using a laptop but I figured the yarn I had spun was too good to
not use.  I'll restrain, my creative writing efforts to other
venues...promise.

You probably already know that Ethernet cables of various kinds are
specifically designed to support data at 10, 100 and 1000 Mb/s
(Megabytes/sec).  USB cables are designed physically different, even
though they can carry 12 Mb/s - 480 Mb/s depending if the card in use is
USB 1.1 or 2.0.  My English is a bit rusty here so bear with me.

Ethernet cables only carry data and the wires are arranged with the
shielded cables (there are also unshielded Ethernet cables) so that the
magnetic forces generated by the creation of a circuit carrying an
electrical signal are contained as much as possible with and along the
inner wires or along them as much as possible. There are various designs
of how the wires are entwined together or twisted in an effort to
propagate data without or with very minimal signal loss (degradation).

To many, many people your question essentially of why not put
essentially and Ethernet connector on the end of a USB cable connecting
supposedly to a computer is very reasonable.  The problem is that the
USB cable is not designed the same way as a Ethernet cable at all; few
recall that the USB cable also carries current to power electrical
peripherals.  The construction of the inner wiring to allow that is
quite different.  And while only the very technically astute would care
to detail the nuances between the kind of electrical flow existing
within a working Ethernet cable and a working USB cable a common person
can observe closely that the cables are doing very different jobs.

You should speak to a company that all they do is cables and get their
honest advice.  They also build custom cables; this is high quality
service and materials -- you will not find this kind of service anywhere
but from them and they are the rock solid best.  I don't want to scare
you regarding pricing but don't blanche when you hear it.  Remember if
you go for their custom service you are probably the only person
requesting it and you will pay accordingly.

However, this is not the only route for you to go.  I recommend that you
question them closely regarding one of their products which MAY do what
you have raised your question about -- I honestly don't know if that
particular product can be used in the way you intend, but you can ask
them specifically.  The name of the company is Black Box
(www.blackbox.com) and the specific product you want to speak with them
about is called a USBCAT5 Extender.  That would run from $130 and up
without the cable.  Cable is usually sold at per square foot to keep
costs down.

Chris, don't rush into this...add up the cost of the cable, plus the
USBCAT5 Extender (which they probably designed; they design an
incredible amount of stuff) plus shipping.  And compare the total to the
cost of sending your laptop to an Apple repair shop and get that
Ethernet port fixed.  I have a feeling you will be convinced which is
cheaper and why.  See if Other World Computing (www.fastermacs.net) will
do the repairs on your laptop-- you can also check out those companies
mentioned in the back of MacAddict; of course make sure they are Apple
certified.

Here is the link to the page where they appear on Black Boxes website:
http://catalog.blackbox.com/BlackBox/Templates/blackbox/mainscreen.asp

To see what Black Box has in mind as regards how to use this particular
product on that page notice a button called Diagram/Application.  Click
upon it and the picture describing their idea of how the USBCAT5
Extender is to be used will appear.

Best Wishes...
-- 
Life only demands from you the strength you possess.
Only one feat is possible -- not to have run away."
--Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961)

Gitanjali 35:
Where the Mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where Knowledge is Free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments 
by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the Depth of Truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards Perfection;
Where the Clear Stream of Reason has not lost its way into the dreary
desert sand of dead habit;
Where the Mind is led forward by Thee into Ever-Widening Thought 
And Action --
Into That Heaven of Freedom, My Father, let my country awake.

by Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali (Song Offerings): A Collection of
Prose Translations Made by the Author from the Original Bengali, intro.
by W. B. Yeats (London: MacMillan, 1913): 27-28. PR 6039 A2G6 1913
Robarts Library

Mitakuye Oyasin -- A Cherokee expression meaning,"We are all related."