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Home Forums MacNN USB over IP/Ethernet anyone? — #5
Post #5 by tooki
Source ForumMacNN
CategoryNetworking
Post DateSat, 25 Jun 2005 - 10:11
Original URLhttps://web.archive.org/web/20050724075149/https://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=260921
Post
To answer the question about USB over ethernet: there are three things i can think of:

1. Ethernet KVM (keyboard, video, mouse). These use IP, so it works from all over the internet. Typically used for remote server management and the like. VERY expensive (minimum $600 or so).

2. Cat 5 USB extender. These devices convert the USB plug to Cat 5 cable and back. They are not ethernet, and cannot be plugged into a network!! You must use a dedicated Cat 5 cable for them. Not too expensive, readily available for under $100. (There's a very cheap one on the link below, btw.)

3. Pure USB. USB's maximum cable lenth is 5m, about 16 feet. But here's the key: that's between hubs and devices. So if you use a powered hub, you can extend the distance by 5m. There exist active USB extenders that are basically one-port bus-powered USB hubs. They regenerate the signal and let you go 5m farther. Hubs or active extenders can be daisy-chained, up to 5 of them to get very long distances.


As for Bluetooth: standard Bluetooth is 30m in the clear. On my PowerBook's internal Bluetooth and my Sony Ericsson phone, it works more or less reliably in a 20ft radius through walls. With no walls in between, it's very reliable over longer distances. But you can also buy special ("Class 1") Bluetooth dongles that have more than 3 times the power, and go 100m in the clear. One of those would fill your AV room easily.

tooki
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