LAN party

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A large (approximately 300 people) LAN party in a sports hall in northern Germany A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gathering of people together with their computers, which they network together primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games. These local area networks (LANs) come in various sizes, from very small (two people) to very large (more than 10,000 people). Small parties can form spontaneously, but large ones usually require a fair amount of planning and preparation on the part of the organizer. The current world record for number of computers connected in the network at a LAN party is 10,445, set at DreamHack Winter 2007, in Jnkping, Sweden.[1]. LAN party events differ significantly from gaming centers and Internet cafes in that they are generally bring your own computer (BYOC)[2] and are not permanent installations, often taking place in general meeting places or residences. LAN party attendees tend to be more experienced gamers, as the setup required turns most casual gamers away.

Contents
[hide]

1 History 2 Small LAN parties 3 Larger LAN parties o 3.1 Sponsorship 4 Equipment o 4.1 Patrons o 4.2 Host

5 Culture 6 Gaming console system links 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] History
LAN parties originated from early single-player Unix games such as Larn, Hack, Rogue, and Hunt the Wumpus that kept scoreboards on a centralized server.[3] At this point the majority of the people playing these games were university students who had access to such systems for schoolwork. Another early incarnation of network gaming was Xanth Software F/X's MIDI Maze. Programmed for the Atari ST, the game allowed up to 16 computers (though any number above four caused instability) to be linked together via the ST's MIDI ports and deathmatch games to be played over the makeshift network. With the release of id Software's Doom in 1993, the gameplay that MIDI Maze pioneered was perfected, allowing four players either to cooperate in the game's singleplayer campaign or to fight each other in a deathmatch game. As a result, network gaming (and consequently LAN parties) grew. The initial explosion for the LAN Party scene occurred with the release of the shareware version of Id Software's Quake in 1996. The release of Quake closely coincided with the release of many low-cost Ethernet NIC and hub packages from companies such as Linksys and Realtek allowing for easy ad-hoc LAN building. An additional factor was ease with which computers were able to be networked domestically with the then recently-released Windows 95.

[edit] Small LAN parties

Three gamers at a LAN party Usually smaller LAN parties consist of people bringing their computers over to each others' houses to host and play multiplayer games. They are sometimes established between small groups of friends, and hosted at one participant's house or a small venue. Such events are often organized quickly with little planning, and are usually overnight events, with some stretching into days (or even weeks). Because of the small number of players, games are usually played on small levels and/or against bots. When a broadband Internet connection is available, some LAN parties will

join on-line servers, where everyone connects to the same server to play together, often on the same team. In this case, the LAN party helps bring the team in one physical location, to talk/chat more efficiently. A small LAN party requires a hub/switch, with enough ports to accommodate all the players, a fair amount of power, and suitable surfaces for all the computers. Providing large amounts of food and beverages is often also a duty of the host, though guests are usually asked to contribute resources. In larger parties where participants may not all know each other personally, an entry fee may even be charged. Another tradition of some small groups is to purchase large amounts of fast food (Usually Pizza) for consumption over many days. Many LAN fans will also bring energy drinks and other food to consume over the course of the party. To set up these parties a network hub/switch isn't always required. If all the computers have Wi-Fi capability, an ad-hoc network may be set up. This is a network which connects two computers together without the need for a switch/hub.

[edit] Larger LAN parties

A photo from the world's largest LAN party, DreamHack. Many commercialized parties offer various tournaments, with competitions in such games as StarCraft, Quake III, Call of Duty 2, Warcraft III, Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, America's Army, Battlefield 2 and the Doom series, sometimes awarding prizes to the winners. Prizes can include computer hardware such as overclocking kits, cases, lights, fans, graphic cards and sometimes even complete computers. The duration of the event is not standardized; many organized parties last for a weekend, while there have also been longer and shorter parties. Big LAN parties often offer a quiet place to sleep, shower, and eat, as well as hired security, alternative entertainment (such as music), and a dedicated support crew, as well as a professionally managed network including a connection to the Internet. Catering might come in the form of a bar, delivered food such as pizza, or nearby shops. Some parties

come fully catered in the form of regular barbecues or even employment of a catering staff running a public canteen. Gaming clans are groups of gamers that often play in team games and often use these gatherings to meet one another, since they typically play together over the Internet between other parties with little real-world contact. Their goal is often to win tournaments. Clans are often in "ladders" where they move up after winning a match. As well as counting for standings in national and international gaming leagues such as the CPL there are regular events such as Quakecon in which the very best players from around the world compete against one another, much like in popular sports. Practice matches are usually held prior to a match so competitors can get a rough idea of what they are up against. Often case modders and overclockers attend these events to display their computers, which otherwise would be seen by few. Some come just to display their computers and look at others' computers. Some attendees also use these parties for the purpose of file sharing. Copyright infringement via file sharing is often discouraged or forbidden by the larger parties. However, enforcement is rare and spotty due to the time involved and often a lack of desire by organizers. Some LAN parties actively support file sharing for legitimate purposes (game patches, updates, user contributed content), and may run Direct Connect hubs or other P2P service servers. One of the main reasons for running such servers is so file sharing can be monitored/controlled while standard Windows file sharing (SMB/CIFS) can be blocked, thus preventing the spread of SMB/CIFS-based viruses. Most P2P setups used at LAN parties also have a 'centralized' chat area, where all members of the LAN party can converse in an IRC-like environment. There are also other kinds of parties not referred to as "LAN parties" where temporary LANs are built, but are not used as a main attraction. Amongst these are demo parties such as Assembly and hacker conventions such as DEF CON. In the traditionally active demoscene countries, such as those in Northern Europe, the LAN party culture is often heavily influenced by demo parties. This is due to the fact that many of the largest demo parties were already well established in the early 1990s and their facilities were also suitable for large-scale LAN party activity. This eventually lead gaming clans and other similar groups to attend these events and regard them merely as large LAN parties. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for "pure" LAN parties in Northern Europe to organize some demoscene-like competitions in areas such as computer graphics or home videos.

[edit] Sponsorship
Many computer companies, including Corsair[4] and Alienware,[5] offer sponsorship packages to large LAN parties, with funding, prizes, or equipment given in return for advertising. Many large-scale LAN parties seek such sponsorship, in order to reduce

operating risk (often the organisers risk losing tens of thousands of dollars) and provide prizes for attendees.

[edit] Equipment

Wide area network

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Jump to: navigation, search Wide Area Network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries [1] ). Or, less formally, a network that uses routers and public communications links [1]. Contrast with personal area networks (PANs), local area networks (LANs), campus area networks (CANs), or metropolitan area networks (MANs) which are usually limited to a room, building, campus or specific metropolitan area (e.g., a city) respectively. The largest and most well-known example of a WAN is the Internet. WANs are used to connect LANs and other types of networks together, so that users and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other locations. Many WANs are built for one particular organization and are private. Others, built by Internet service providers, provide connections from an organization's LAN to the Internet. WANs are often built using leased lines. At each end of the leased line, a router connects to the LAN on one side and a hub within the WAN on the other. Leased lines can be very expensive. Instead of using leased lines, WANs can also be built using less costly circuit switching or packet switching methods. Network protocols including TCP/IP deliver transport and addressing functions. Protocols including Packet over SONET/SDH, MPLS, ATM and Frame relay are often used by service providers to deliver the links that are used in WANs. X.25 was an important early WANSACHMO protocol, and is often considered to be the "grandfather" of Frame Relay as many of the underlying protocols and functions of X.25 are still in use today (with upgrades) by Frame Relay. Academic research into wide area networks can be broken down into three areas: Mathematical models, network emulation and network simulation. Performance improvements are sometimes delivered via WAFS or WAN Optimization. Several options are available for WAN connectivity: [2] Sample Bandwidth protocols range used

Option:

Description

Advantages Disadvantages

Leased line

Point-to-Point connection between two computers or Most secure Local Area Networks (LANs)

Expensive

PPP, HDLC, SDLC, HNAS

A dedicated circuit path is created Circuit between end points. switching Best example is dialup connections Devices transport packets via a shared single point-to-point or point-to-multipoint link across a carrier Packet internetwork. Variable switching length packets are transmitted over Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVC) or Switched Virtual Circuits (SVC)

Less Expensive

Call Setup

28 Kb/s PPP, ISDN 144 Kb/s

Shared media across link

X.25 FrameRelay

Similar to packet switching, but uses fixed length cells best for instead of variable simultaneous Overhead can be Cell relay length packets. Data is use of Voice considerable divided into fixedand data length cells and then transported across virtual circuits

ATM

Transmission rate usually range from 1200 bits/second to 6 Mbit/s, although some connections such as ATM and Leased lines can reach speeds greater than 156 Mbit/s . Typical communication links used in WANs are telephone lines, microwave links & satellite channels.

Recently with the proliferation of low cost of Internet connectivity many companies and organizations have turned to VPN to interconnect their networks, creating a WAN in that way. Companies such as Cisco and Check Point offer solutions to create VPN networks.

Metropolitan area network

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Metropolitan area networks, or MANs, are large computer networks usually spanning a city. They typically use wireless infrastructure or Optical fiber connections to link their sites.

[edit] IEEE definition

The IEEE 802-2001 standard describes a MAN as being:

A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than is a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings to entire cities. MANs can also depend on communications channels of moderate-to-high data rates. A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by many individuals and organizations. MANs might also be owned and operated as public utilities. They will often provide means for internetworking of local networks.

CONNECTORS

D-subminiature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search DA, DB, DC, DD, and DE sized connectors The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector used particularly in computers. Calling them "subminiature" was appropriate when they were first introduced, but today they are among the largest common connectors used in computers.

Contents
[hide]

1 Description and nomenclature 2 Typical applications 3 Types and variants 4 Decline in usage 5 See also 6 Notes and references 7 External links

[edit] Description and nomenclature

The DB13W3 Connector

Male 13W3 Plug A D-sub contains two or more parallel rows of pins or sockets usually surrounded by a Dshaped metal shield that provides mechanical support and some screening against electromagnetic interference. The D shape guarantees correct orientation. The part containing pin contacts is called the male connector or plug, while that containing socket contacts is called the female connector or socket. The socket's shield fits tightly inside the plug's shield. The shields are connected to the overall screens of the cables (when screened cables are used), creating an electrically continuous screen covering the whole cable and connector system. D-subminiature connectors were invented by ITT Cannon, part of ITT Corporation, in 1952.[1] Cannon's part-numbering system uses a D as the prefix for the whole series, followed by a letter denoting the shell size (A=15 pin, B=25 pin, C=37 pin, D=50 pin, E=9 pin), followed by the actual number of pins, followed by the gender (P=plug, S=socket). [2] For example, DB25 denotes a D-sub with a 25-pin shell size and 25 contacts. The contacts in these connectors are spaced approximately 0.108 inch (2.74 mm) apart with the rows spaced 0.112 inch (2.84 mm) apart. Cannon also produced D-subs with larger positions in place of some of the normal pin positions that could be used for either high-current, high-voltage, or co-axial inserts. The DB13W3 variant was commonly used for high-performance video connections; this variant provided 10 regular (#20) pins plus three coaxial contacts for the red, green, and blue video signals. In the photograph below, the connector on the left is a 9-pin (DE9) plug, and the one on the right is a 25-pin (DB25) socket. The hexagonal pillars at either end of each connector have a threaded stud (not visible) that passes through flanges on the connector, fastening it to the metal panel. They also have a threaded hole that receives the jackscrews on the cable shell, to hold the plug and socket together. Possibly because the original PC used DB25 connectors for the serial and parallel ports, many people, not knowing the significance of the letter "B" as the shell size, began to call all D-sub connectors "DB" connectors instead of specifying "DA," "DC" or "DE." When the PC serial port began to use 9-pin connectors, they were often called "DB9" instead of

DE9. It is now common to see DE9 connectors sold as "DB9" connectors. DB-9 is nearly always intended to be a 9 pin connector with an E size shell. There are now D-sub connectors which have the original shell sizes, but more pins, and the names follow the same pattern. For example, the DE15, usually found in VGA cables, has 15 pins, in three rows, in an E size shell. The full list of connectors with this pin spacing is: DE15, DA26, DB44, DC62, and DD78. Alternatively, following the same confusion mentioned above in which all D-sub connectors are called "DB", these connectors are often called DB15HD, DB26HD, DB44HD, DC62HD, and DD78HD, where the "HD" stands for "high density". They all have 3 rows of pins, except the DD78, which has 4. A series of D-sub connectors with even denser pins is called "double density", and consists of DE19, DA31, DB52, DC79, and DD100. They have 4 rows of pins. There is yet another similar family of connectors that is easy to confuse with the D-sub family, but is not part of it. These connectors have names like "HD50" and "HD68", and have a D-shaped shell but the shell is about half the width of a DB25. They are common in SCSI attachments. The suffixes M and F (male and female) are sometimes used instead of the original P and S (plug and socket). The original D-subminiature connectors are now defined by an international standard, DIN 41652.

[edit] Typical applications

D-sub connectors. Left: DE9M Right: DB25F. The widest application of D-subs is for RS-232 serial communications, though the standard did not make this connector mandatory. RS-232 devices originally used the DB25 25-pin D-sub, but for many applications the less common signals were omitted, allowing a DE9 9pin D-sub to be used. On PCs, 9-pin and 25-pin plugs are used for the RS-232 (serial) ports and 25-pin sockets are used for the (parallel) printer ports (instead of the Centronics socket found on the printer itself). A male DE9 connector on the back of an IBM-PC-compatible computer is typically a serial port connector. IBM introduced the DE9 connector for RS-232 on PCs with the Personal Computer AT in 1984. A female 9-pin connector on the same computer may be a video display output: monochrome, CGA, or EGA. Even though these all use the same connector, the displays cannot all be interchanged and monitors or video interfaces may even be

damaged if connected to an incompatible device using the same connector. Later analog video (VGA and later) adapters replaced these connectors by DE15 15-pin high-density sockets, which have three rows of five contacts each in the space that was previously occupied by two rows of five and four contacts. Other common names for DE15 connectors are HD15, where HD stands for High Density, and (less accurately) DB15 and DB15HD. From the late 1970s and all through the '80s, DE9s without the pair of fastening screws were almost universal as game controller connectors on video game consoles and home computers, after being made a de facto standard by the use of such game ports in the Atari 2600 game console and the Atari 8-bit family of computers. Computer systems which use them include Atari, Commodore, Amiga, Amstrad, and SEGA systems, among others, but exclude Apple and PC systems and most newer game consoles. Used in the standard way, they support one digital joystick and one pair of analog paddles; on many systems a computer mouse or a light pen is also supported through these sockets, however these mice are not usually exchangeable between different systems. DE9 connectors are also used for some token ring and other computer networks. DA15 is used for Ethernet Attachment Unit Interface. Many uninterruptible power supply units have a DE9F connector on them, in order to signal to the attached computer. Often these do not send data serially to the computer but instead use the handshaking control lines to indicate low battery, power failure or other conditions. Such usage is not standardized between manufacturers and may require special cables to be supplied.

A male PCB-mounting DD50 d-sub connector The complete range of D-sub connectors also includes 15-pin DA15s (two rows of 7 and 8); 37-pin DC37s (two rows of 18 and 19); and 50-pin DD50s (two rows of 17 and one of 16), the last two being used in industrial products. The 15-pin DA15 has been notably used for color video output on early Macintosh computers and as the IBM-defined analogue joystick port on PCs (where it is female). Many third-party PC sound cards, particularly the Sound Blaster line from Creative Labs, included a variation of the IBM joystick port using the same connector but taking two of the pins to add a (usually MPU-401 compatible) MIDI interface. The DA15F was also used for the AUI connectors included on Ethernet cards in the 1980s and 1990s, albeit with a sliding latch to lock the connectors together instead of the usual hex studs with threaded holes. Finally, the early Macintosh and Apple II line of computers used a very rare 19 pin D-sub for connecting to external floppy disk

drives, and the Commodore Amiga used an unusual 23-pin version for both its video output and for connecting an external floppy drive.

A male DE-9 connector. TASCAM used DB25 connectors for their multi-track recording audio equipment (TDIF), and Logitek Audio later did the same for its broadcast consoles, though with different pinouts. [1] A few patch panels have been made which have the DB25 connectors on the back with phone jacks (or even TRS jacks) on the front, however these are normally wired for TASCAM, which is more common outside of broadcasting. In broadcast and professional video, "parallel digital" is a digital video interface that utilizes DB25 connectors, per the SMPTE 274M specification adopted in the late 1990s. The more common SMPTE 259M "serial digital interface" (SDI) utilizes BNC connectors for digital video signal transfer.

[edit] Types and variants

D-sub connectors exist in at least five types, differentiated by the method used to attach wires to the contacts. These are solder-cup or solder-bucket, insulation displacement, crimp, PCB pins, and wire wrap.

Solder-bucket contacts have a cavity into which the stripped wire is inserted and hand-soldered (a somewhat tricky process especially to do alone as the wire can easily pop out of the bucket whilst soldering unless held there). Insulation displacement contacts (IDC) allow a ribbon cable to be forced onto sharp tines on the back of the contacts; this action pierces the insulation of all the wires simultaneously. This is a very quick means of assembly whether done by hand or automatically but requires use of flat ribbon cable which can be awkward to handle and makes it difficult to make cables with different connections at each end. Crimp contacts are assembled by inserting a stripped wire end into a cavity in the rear of the contact, then crushing the cavity using a crimp tool causing it to grip the wire tightly at many points. The crimped contact is then inserted into the connector where it locks into place. Individual crimped pins can be removed later with a tool inserted into the rear of the connector. This "rear release" feature is valuable when pins are damaged or modifications must be made to the circuits.

PCB pins as the name suggests are intended to be soldered directly to a printed circuit board and not to a wire. These connectors are frequently mounted at a rightangle to the PCB allowing a cable to be plugged into the edge of the PCB assembly. Blocks containing multiple stacked D connectors (and sometimes other connectors too) are nearly always seen on ATX (or variants thereof) PC motherboards but aren't generally seen elsewhere. Wire wrap connections are made by wrapping solid wire around a square post with a wire wrap tool. This type of connection is usually used in prototyping.

A smaller type of connector derived from the D-subminiature, and about half the linear size, is called the microminiature D, or micro-D, which is a trademark of ITT Cannon. This connector is used in industrial instrumentation products. A few manufacturers make nanoD connectors, which are about half the size again.

[edit] Decline in usage

The D-sub connector family is now in decline for general usage, for several reasons: cost, size, and lack of flexibility. For portable devices such as PDAs, MP3 players or mobile phones, the D-sub connector is usually too large to fit. Many laptop computers, where cost is crucial, no longer include D-subs. Even small form factor desktop PCs may find D-sub connectors too large for their value. Because of the relatively complex shapes and assembly, especially the shaped metal D shield, and screws and nuts for physical securing, D-sub connectors are now quite expensive compared to other common connectors, which are mostly simpler. In the retail PC world where margins are very thin, these connectors are a natural target for removal. The physical design is not friendly to plug-and-play applications. Thin metal pins, especially in higher-density connectors, are easily bent or broken, especially when frequently plugged in "blind" behind equipment. Although ESD and EMI resistant D-sub connectors exist, the fundamental design was never intended to protect from electrostatic discharge or electromagnetic interference or facilitate very high frequency interconnections. For video purposes, the DE15HD connector is being slowly replaced by DVI and HDMI connectors, although this transition is proceeding more slowly, since many analog CRT monitors are still in use and the digital DVI connector is not useful for those. For the majority of other consumer applications, D-sub serial and parallel connectors have been replaced by IEEE 1394 (FireWire), SATA, USB or Ethernet connections.

Registered jack
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from RJ45) Jump to: navigation, search This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

A registered jack (RJ) is a standardized physical interface for connecting telecommunications equipment (commonly, a telephone jack) or computer networking equipment. The standard designs for these connectors and their wiring are named RJ11, RJ14, RJ45, etc. These interface standards are most commonly used in North America, though some interfaces are used world-wide. The physical connectors that registered jacks use are of the modular connector type, except RJ21X which is a 25-pair Amphenol connector. For example, RJ11 uses a 6 pin 2 conductor (6P2C) modular plug and jack.

Left to right, RJ connectors: an eight-pin plug (8P8C, used for RJ49, RJ61 and others, but often called "RJ45" because of its outward semblance to the true RJ45), six-pin RJ25 plug, four-pin RJ14 plug (often also used instead of two-pin RJ11), and a four-pin handset plug (also popularly, though incorrectly, called "RJ22", "RJ10", or "RJ9"). The middle two can be plugged into the same standard six-pin jack, pictured.

Contents
[hide]

1 Naming confusion 2 Twisted pair 3 History and authority 4 International use

5 Registered jack types o 5.1 Common types o 5.2 Uncommon types o 5.3 "Unofficial" (incorrect) plug names 6 External links

[edit] Naming confusion

There is much confusion over these connection standards. The six-position plug and jack commonly used for telephone line connections may be used for RJ11, RJ14 or even RJ25, all of which are actually names of interface standards that use this physical connector. The RJ11 standard dictates a 2-wire connection, while RJ14 uses a 4-wire configuration, and RJ25 uses all six wires. Plugs and jacks of this type are often called modular connectors, which originally distinguished them from older telephone connectors, which were very bulky or wired directly to the wall and therefore not accommodating of modular systems. A common nomenclature for modular connectors is e.g. "6P" to indicate a six-position modular plug or jack. Sometimes the nomenclature is expanded to indicate the number of positions that contain conductors. For example, a six-position modular plug with conductors in the middle two positions and the other four positions unused is called a 6P2C. RJ11 uses a 6P plug; furthermore, it often uses a 6P2C. An alternative terminology sometime used is e.g. 6x2. Another alternative is e.g. 6/2. Registered jacks were originally the subject of Bell System Universal Service Ordering Codes. A USOC is a code one can use on an order for telephone service to specify the kind of service ordered. For example, to order a new telephone extension installed the subscriber might specify the USOC "RJ11W" in order to get a 6P2C jack for a conventional wall mounted single line telephone installed. People sometimes use "USOC" to refer to the service specification itself, though the USOC is just the name of it. With respect to registered jacks, the complete specification was registered (at one time with the US government) -- hence the name. Though it's awkward to refer to a standard for a jack as a jack, it is nonetheless the conventional terminology. The registered jack is the type of physical interface and the USOC is a name for that type of physical interface. It is important to note that a USOC does not always indicate exactly a connector to use.

[edit] Twisted pair

While the plugs are generally used with a flat cable (a notable exception being Ethernet twisted-pair cabling used with the 8P8C modular plug), the long cables feeding them in the building wiring and the phone network before them are normally twisted pair. Wiring conventions were designed to take full advantage of the physical compatibility ensuring

that using a smaller plug in a larger socket would pick up complete pairs not a (relatively useless) two half pairs but here again there has been a problem. The original concept was that the centre two pins would be one pair, the next two out the second pair, and so on until the outer pins of an eight-pin connector would be the fourth twisted pair. Additionally, signal shielding was optimised by alternating the live (hot) and earthy (ground) pins of each pair. This standard for the eight-pin connector is the USOC-defined pinout, but the outermost pair are then too far apart to meet the electrical requirements of high-speed LAN protocols. Two variations known as T568A and T568B overcome this by using adjacent pairs of the outer four pins for the third and fourth pairs. The inner four pins are wired identically to RJ14. (See: Category 5 cable.)

[edit] History and authority

Registered Jacks were introduced by the Bell System in the 1970s, replacing much bulkier connectors that were in use before. The Bell System gave the specifications for them (both the modular connectors and the wiring of them) Universal Service Ordering Codes (USOC), and that was the only standard at that time. When the US telephone industry was opened to more competition in the 1980s, the specifications were made a matter of US law, ordered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, 47 CFR 68, subpart F. In January 2001, the FCC turned over responsibility for standardizing connections to the telephone network to a new private industry organization, the Administrative Council for Terminal Attachment (ACTA). The FCC removed Subpart F from the CFR and added Subpart G, which delegates the task to the ACTA. The ACTA published a standard called TIA/EIA-IS-968 which contained the information that was formerly in the CFR. The current version of that standard, called TIA-968-A, specifies the modular connectors at length, but not the wiring. Instead, TIA-968-A incorporates a standard called T1.TR5-1999 by reference to specify the wiring. Note that a Registered Jack name such as RJ11 identifies both the physical connectors and the wiring (pinout) of it (see above).

[edit] International use

The modular jack was chosen as a candidate for ISDN systems. In order to be considered, the connector system had to be defined under international standards. In turn this led to ISO 8877. Under the rules of IEEE standards Project 802, international standards are to be preferred over national standards so the modular connector was chosen for IEEE 802.3i, the original 10BASE-T twisted-pair wiring version of Ethernet.

[edit] Registered jack types

The most familiar registered jack is probably the RJ11. This is a 6 position modular connector wired for one phone line, and is what you see in most homes and offices in North America for single line telephones.

RJ14 and RJ25 are also fairly common, using the same size connector as RJ11, but with two and three phone lines, respectively, connected. Essentially all one, two, and three line telephones made today (2006) are meant to plug into RJ11, RJ14, or RJ25 jacks, respectively. The true RJ45(S) is an extremely uncommon registered jack, but the name "RJ45" is also used quite commonly to refer to any 8P8C modular connector. Many of the basic names have suffixes that indicate subtypes:

C: flush-mount or surface mount W: wall-mount S: single-line M: multi-line X: complex jack

For example, RJ11 comes in two forms: RJ11W is a jack from which you can hang a wall telephone, while RJ11C is a jack designed to have a cord plugged into it. (You can plug a cord into an RJ11W as well, but it usually isn't as aesthetic as a cord plugged into an RJ11C).

[edit] Common types

RJ11C/RJ11W: 6P2C, for one telephone line (6P4C with power on second pair) RJ14C/RJ14W: 6P4C, for two telephone lines (6P6C with power on third pair) RJ25C/RJ25W: 6P6C, for three telephone lines

[edit] Uncommon types

RJ2MB: 50-pin miniature ribbon connector, 2-12 telephone lines with make-busy RJ12C/RJ12W: 6P6C, for one telephone line ahead of the key system RJ13C/RJ13W: 6P4C, for one telephone line behind the key system RJ15C: 3-pin weatherproof, for one telephone line RJ18C/RJ18W : 6P6C, for one telephone line with make-busy arrangement RJ21X: 50-pin miniature ribbon connector, for up to 25 lines RJ26X: 50-pin miniature ribbon connector, for multiple data lines, universal RJ27X: 50-pin miniature ribbon connector, for multiple data lines, programmed RJ31X: 8P8C (although usually only 4C are used), Often incorrectly stated as allowing alarm (fire and intrusion) equipment to seize a phone line, the jack is actually used to disconnect the equipment from the phone line while allowing the phone circuit to continue to the site phones. RJ38X: 8P8C, similar to RJ31X, with continuity circuit RJ41S: 8P8C keyed, for one data line, universal RJ45S: 8P2C + keyed, for one data line with programming resistor RJ48S: 8P8C, for four-wire data line (DDS)

RJ48C: 8P8C, for four-wire data line (DSX-1) RJ48X: 8P8C with shorting bar, for four-wire data line (DS1) RJ49C: 8P8C, for ISDN BRI via NT1 RJ61X: 8P8C, for four telephone lines RJ71C: 12 line series connection using 50 pin connector (with bridging adapter) ahead of customer equipment. Mostly used for call sequencer equipment.

(http://www.computerhope.com/help/nic.htm) NIC ABCs A NIC, or Network Interface Card, is a circuit board or chip, which allows the computer to communicate to other computers on a Network. This board, when connected to a cable or other method of transferring data such as infrared, can share resources, information and computer hardware. Local or Wide area networks are generally used for large businesses as well as are beginning to be found in homes as home users begin to have more than one computer. Utilizing network cards to connect to a network allow users to share data such as companies being able to have the capability of having a database that can be accessed all at the same time, send and receive e-mail internally within the company, or share hardware devices such as printers.

Connectors Network cards have three main types of connectors. Below is an example of what a network card may look like.

BNC - As illustrated in the above picture, the BNC connector is a round connector which is used for Thinnet or 10Base-2 Local Area Network. DB9 - The DB9 connector, not to be confused with the Serial Port, or sometimes referred to as the RJ45 JACK, not to be confused with the RJ45 connection, is used with Token Ring networks. DB-15 - The DB-15 connector is used for a Thicknet or 10Base-5 Local area network. RJ45 - Today, one of the most popular types of connections used with computer networks. RJ45 looks similar to a phone connector or RJ11 connector but is slightly larger.

10BASE-5

Also known as Thick Ethernet or Thicknet, 10BASE-5 is an IEEE standard for baseband Ethernet at 10MBps over thick coaxial cable. 10BASE-5 has a maximum distance of 500 meters.

LAN
Short for Local-Area Network, a LAN is a network that has networking equipment and/or computers in close proximity to each other, capable of communicating, sharing resources and sharing information. Most home networks and businesses who have their own network are on a LAN.

WAN
Short for Wide Area Network, WAN is a collection of computers and network resources connected via a network over a geographic area. Wide-Area Networks are commonly connected either through the Internet or special arrangements made with phone companies or other service providers. A WAN is different from a MAN because of the distance between each of the networks. In a WAN, one network may be anywhere from several hundred miles away, to across the globe in a different country.

MAN
1. Short for Metropolitan-Area Network, MAN is a network that is utilized across multiple buildings. A MAN is much larger than the standard LocalArea Network (LAN) but is not as large as a Wide Area Network (WAN) and commonly is used in school campuses and large companies with multiple buildings. 2. Short for Manual, man is a Unix / Linux command to display the manual of a command. Additional information about this command can be found on our Unix / Linux man page.