The Myriad Ways of Wiring Your Home? 315
Wired, or Wireless? RickMuller asks: "I have a cable modem feeding into an ethernet hub in my house, of off which I string anywhere from 2-5 different computers. Currently these are all clustered near the cable modem itself. I would like to be able to spread the computers through my house, and particularly to be able to bring my laptop to other parts of the house and still be able to work online. I'm considering either hiring an electrician to wire the walls, or finding some wireless format. Wireless is definitely cooler, but I'm a little bit scared off by the 'tower of babel' of different formats. Plus the expense is a consideration. Can anyone else offer an opinion on wireless vs. wired at home, and if wireless, which wireless format?"
Sticking with the open solution is always the best, so I would go with an IEEE 802.11 based network for the wireless segment. Are there any wireless cards that do not grok 802.11? If so, then I'd stay well away from these unless the cost savings are really huge, which I doubt.
Building the Home of the 21st Century! Cactii submits: "My wife and I are thinkng about buying a home soon. We both have our own ideas about what the place is going to be like and the immediate improvements we will make to the existing structure of the house. My ideas involve electronic interfaces to different areas of the house. Wiring the house for a network and using the computer for almost everything that it can be used for.
First off - I'm going to wire the living room or family room into a total entertainment center. It'll have the usual stereo, TV, DVD, VCR, etc... However there'll also be a computer connected to a proxy server that allows instant internet access. The computer will allow us to surf the net and download MP3's to be played right off the computer hard drive through the stereo and other things as well.
I've been looking around for other 'Wired Home' solutions and all I've found were some programs and electronic gizmos that offer only a piece of the solution. X10.com is about as close to a solution as anything but I don't want all these little boxes hanging off of the wall plugs.
Has anybody found anything more integral? More of a total solution?"
Wiring A Home With an Eye on the Future? Oroborus asks: "My parents are building a new house from ground up, and want to try to be as 'forward compatible' as possible. They've asked for my help in incorporating as much technology as possible, and in preparing it for any future technology that we can forsee. The problem is that though they're excited by technology, they're not all that conversant with it, and anything they include will have to be extremely user friendly. My initial thought is to wire the house with shielded ethernet cable with all the drops in the basement, to be wired to a hub/router later. But they've got high hopes for a 'smart home', how else can they prepare for the future?"
A tough job, but maybe with a bit of thought, such things can be prepared for. How would you wire a home with an eye on making it so that future capabilities can be added in without painful construction bills?
Wiring Hostile Home Environments? Old Man Kensey issues the following query: "I've been annoying my roommate by populating every possible room in our apartment with a terminal of some kind (X over the Ethernet, null-modem PPP, or serial). There are two rooms I have not yet found suitable equipment for, though -- the kitchen and the bathroom. The bathroom has the obvious hazards, besides being pretty small, but the kitchen is even more hostile an environment. Besides water, you have various kinds of food and food-related goo, microwave radiation, heat, high humidity, and general cramped space.
Has anybody out there found cheap, readily-available equipment (serial terminals, etc.) that will withstand the worst hazards of a typical American home? How about cheap modifications like enclosures that fit in small spaces and might protect, say, a PowerBook-Duo-size laptop? I'm willing to deal with having to power up and down, but I'd like to have something that doesn't compromise the actual operation of the equipment (enclosures that block cooling fan vents, for example)."
You Can Wire in More Than a LAN, You Know... Cosimo Leipold asks: "I've recently purchased a house that is still under construction. The developer asked me what I wanted wired. Has anyone expiremented with what you can wire in a home sucesfully? The developer has no 'computer experience' of course, so beyond RJ-45 he didn't know what was feasible. He tells me that the cost of wiring is pretty minimal since the house has little more than the frame up at this point. I'm looking to the slashdot community for cool ideas as to what I can wire. (RJ-45, sound, s-video, intercom, etc). I'm thinking this might be a great chance to get X10 in. Ideas?"
It seems that a lot of people have discovered X10 for home automation, but is that the only game in town? Sure, it might be the most affordable, but for those people with larger pocket books, are there other alternatives that might offer more features for a larger pricetag?
...and Along the Same Vein, Why Not Wire for Sound? Last, but most certainly not least, wiremonkey puts this question on the table: "I hear a lot of talk about wiring homes, but very few people are thinking about anything except network/telephone wiring. I'm interested in how fellow geeks have wired their houses for audio. Right now, I have a system built around a Samson 24 channel mixer and two amplifiers. My audio sources include computers, CD players, ham radios, a tape deck, DVD, VCR, and TV. The current system lets me listen to different things in two 'zones' - the computer room vs. the rest of the house (I like my computers to beep in the computer room, but not the bedroom - yet I like my CD player to play music in both rooms). Note that I always have one compter's audio playing throughout the house, as it announces my telephone calls.
I'm looking at ways of distributing the control of the audio 'mix' to two locations (right now, you have to be at the main mixer to adjust something). I would locate the video equipment and an additional CD player in the living room, while I would locate the computer equipment and auxilary audio gear (tape deck, ham radio, another CD player) in the computer room. I'd like to be able to hear any audio source from any room. I'm a serious listener, and I hate 60hz hum (the current unbalanced audio lines I use cause nothing but problems with hum)! In addition, I live in a high RF environment, with HF, VHF, and UHF transmitters and 100 watts of power per band. I get sick of hearing my automated packet station while listening to Bach! At the same time, I would prefer not to run 20+ balanced lines between the two locations. What have you done in your house? What were the 'professional touches' that you added? What did you wish you did differently?
(Yes, I know there are turn-key systems that do this - however, I don't feel like spending $2000+ for a system which won't let me listen to my computer and CDs at the same time!)"
Wired/Wireless Combo (Score:3)
I've found this to be ideal. We've ended up primarily using our laptops with the wireless net (even when we're on the couch and could easily plug in). My poor desktop rarely sees non-Quake action anymore. Since our primary applications involve internet access, and since the wireless is faster than our DSL, we simply almost never need the 100bT speeds.
Now, if only Tessla were alive to advise me about wireless juice, I'd be golden.
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Re:wire the wheels (Score:3)
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Re:X10 sucks. Alternatives? (Score:2)
Biggest problem with x10 for me is the horribly outdated housecode system... 16 housecodes with 16 devices doesn't cut it - I have a shload more than 16 things I want to control in my house! x10's biggest disadvantage is address space.
And some of the wireless x10 recievers (that take the signal from a PalmPad, etc. and put it onto the line) have this evil tendency to take a commend and repeat it in a loop for a minute or two. (i.e. hit "dim" once, and it'll dim all the way down, and stay off for a while.)
My wired home (Score:3)
My goal is to make my home the perfect place for a LAN party. :-)
Anyone? (Score:2)
Investment considerations (Score:2)
Oh, and on another note. Who's four year old kid did the web design on X10's site?
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Re:One word: (Score:2)
Re:Conduit... (Score:3)
Oooh! Myth debunking time! =) I'm an installer and I work for a fiber optic distributor, so I'll throw in my few cents.
Benefits? Security is first. Fiber is very difficult to tap. Even if someone wanted to do it right, fusion splicers are expensive. $30,000 - $40,000 man, and yes, they are quite portable.
Next would be interference. Lack thereof. Fiber isn't affected by EMI or ESD at all. Run it wherever you want and it doesn't care about environmental factors.
Distance. Typically you can run several kilometers before repeating a signal. Granted your house isn't that big, but if your cable assembly was well done, you don't hafta worry about signal loss (just different modes combining after a while on multimode, but no one has a house that big).
Price. Fiber, in the long run, isn't expensive. You can get some multimode fiber and run 10Base-FL, 100Base-FX, 1000Base-SX or 1000Base-LX, or whatever on it (up to about a gigabit). Just change the devices on the end (and possibly use a different adapter) and that's it. Don't need to run new cable. Want more power? Single mode is pricier, but I think Lucent is pumping 40Gbps over it nowadays (PER fiber), and it'll keep getting better.
Bending? Well, not because of breakage, but to minimize loss. Even indoor rated riser/plenum jumper cables can take a BEATING. Typically you'll have an outer jacket, then strength members (kevlar usually for indoors), a coating, the cladding, and then the core itself. You just don't want true KINKS or 50,000,000 loops in how you're running it, to minimize loss. But at work we've done some REAL hack jobs in the office (we run fiber to EVERYTHING we can) when we've had to, and we've never had a problem.
NICs are about $150 nowadays for top name 100Mbps Ethernet topology (like 3Com's 100Base-FX cards). Hubs can be a bit pricey, but hey, fiber can be well worth it if you're willing to invest in it.
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Wiring Tips Learned the Hard Way (Score:2)
If you go wired, and you're installing in an extant building, while you're laying out where you want Ethernet jacks (you *are* planning to lay it out on paper first, right?), try to avoid exterior walls if you can. The fewer of these that you do the better.
Exterior walls are:
"Beware by whom you are called sane."
Re:Wired vs. Wireless - Security (Score:2)
So just use ssh for everything, it can forward every service you want to run, so everything over the air is protected with strong crypto.
All over Ethernet (Score:2)
I'd initially tried to spec out all the possible things we'd want to have -- network, phone, amplified audio, line-level audio, cable/Satellite TV, distributed TV, HD-TV (hey, we can dream, right?), home automation, temperature sensors, voice control, etc.
In the end, we decided that's a lot of cable. And much of it (amplified and especially line-level audio) requires more expensive equipment than I really wanted to deal with. So, we've made the decision to put amplified audio in only a few rooms (and we'll figure out some way to get it into the ceiling), and to put Cat-5 and dual coax into every room. We'll try and put a pair of cat-5 near the light switch, one for audio controls (should we put amplified audio in that room), and one for home automation use (voice control, touch pads, whatever). Then have a single jack with a pair of coax (TV and video), and a pair of cat-5 (computer, phone, whatever). The bulk of the audio/video distribution, however, we're going to do via Video LAN technology. Just put a set-top box in any room that wants it, and you get super tivo, web, playstation emulation, mp3, etc.
The quality might not be as great as doing 100% pure video over good coax, however, it might actually be better, being all digital until just 6 feet from the TV (and, eventually, all digital right to the tube, once we've made a gazillion dollars and can afford digital flat panels).
I've described this a couple times before, and so far, haven't heard any naysayers. Anyone out there this time who thinks that the idea of doing it all over switched ethernet isn't the way to go?
Re:home LAN (Score:2)
-marius
recommended outlets and jacks plus other tips (Score:2)
I just wired a portion of my house. I recommend using the Leviton QuickPort outlets or outlet covers. These are outlet covers with square holes in them. The holes accept snap in QuickPort jacks. Leviton sells QuickPort jacks for RJ45 jack, RJ11, and coax (they may sell more, this is what I saw on the shelf). They come in 1, 2, 4 and 6 hole varieties.
For my computer room, I bought 2 of the 6 hole variety, 8 RJ 45 jacks and one package of 4 blanks to cover the 2 unused holes. That way I have 4 ethernet ports on opposite walls with 2 spots on each wall open for future jacks.
You can buy them from http://smarthome.com [smarthome.com] and probably elsewhere online, but you might also try your local Home Depot (they were cheaper there). While there, pick up some blue 3/4" flexible conduit that they sell in 10' sections. Even if you don't have a junction box, you can still run the conduit to your outlet holes keeping you from having to fish through walls each time you want to pull wire. Of course, having conduit everywhere would be nice, but even just running conduit through those difficult areas is a big plus.
Also, when you run the first wire, drag a piece of nylon cord with it. Then you can pull your wires through always dragging along a nylon cord so you can do the next pull.
Re:I am going to wire up my house (Score:2)
Re:I am going to wire up my house (Score:2)
Re:String (Score:3)
The even simpler solution, albeit mildly destructive, is to use an existing run of cable *as* pull cord. Pull 2x the required cable so you can return the line you've used as a pull line. The excess line returned can just be recoiled. I've done this with existing electrical runs where there was no string used and the pipe was too full and serpantine to run my fishtape through.
Which reminds me of my other gripe, I wish the 1000' pull-paks of cat5 were actually dual 500' spools. I've never pulled a single line and always find myself having to handcrank the line onto multiple spools so I can pull more than one run at the same time.
I know, I could buy multiple packs, but I'm cheap, and the plywood, conduit and empty spools were available to make my multispool rig for free..
Re:My Experiences (Score:2)
Re:home LAN (Score:2)
The other pairs are there for a -reason-.
They are ground wires. They also provide protection against attenuation and signal leakage. That's why they're twisted in there.
If they didn't need to be there, they wouldn't.
-j
Re:One word: (Score:2)
While you've got no walls... (Score:2)
First, you can add wire for whatever you expect to need, like phone, cat5, coax for video, cat3 for an intercom, wires for home automation, etc. and hope it's enough.
Or, you can install conduit with what you expect to need in it, and leave it for other stuff. If you're reasonably mechanically inclined (a good test here would be whether you have a fish tape or not), pulling wires around isn't terribly difficult. You will want conduit for main runs though, such as from the first to second floor, or from both floors to the basement, etc.
Some things to keep in mind: when you are running one type of cable, run others if there's a remote possibility you'll want them, since it's easier to cut holes in drywall once, pull cable once, mess with faceplates once, and the like. While you're pulling a mass of cable to the second floor, pull a few extras (at least two, and perhaps as many as one per room) and leave nice long runs so you can drop cable into any room on that floor. Do it yourself or make sure the electrician knows what he's doing. Getting a full 100Mbps requires careful installation, and an electrician used to yanking on 12AWG copper power lines will have to be reminded to be careful.
Good luck!
Backup your critical computers (Score:2)
His home router crashed and burned. Well, not quite, there weren't flames, but about all he could salvage from the very dead computer was the floppy drive. He spent a couple of days reconfiguring a new router, and he wishes he had backed up the configuration.
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My take on wireless. (Score:2)
I *loved* having my WaveLAN card in my laptop..I could sit in front of the TV and work on stuff... I could sit out on the balcony in the evening.. it was nice. Going out in the yard (if you are lucky enough to have one) and lounging with your laptop.. what more could you ask for?
But nothing beats some good cat5 for stability and speed. Take the time to run some cat5.
If it's your own home, do it properly, even get contractors to do the cabling if you like. If it's an apartment, you can run it along the edge of the carpet, usually doing quite a nice job. My lat apartment had hot-water pipes for heating, so there was open conduit between all the rooms.. very handy.
Audio Shits (Score:3)
The first step in creating a successful system like this seems to be consolidation of equipment. Put as much of the electronics as possible in the same place (same rack, pile, shelf, whatever). This keeps cables short, and minimizes the chance of ground loops. Plug everything into a single outlet if possible, or the same circuit, or (at the very least) the same transformer leg.
Second, keep things as simple as possible. You don't need to hear the TV in the bedroom, while using the computer at the other end of the house, and so you don't need cabling (or more to the point, antennae) for that. Ideally, the only long lines present would be for speakers, and in this situation those should probably have at least a ferrite bead clamped on, or maybe a small coil in series, to keep induced RF from pissing off the electronics.
Probably also, it does not serve you to listen to two different CDs in the same house at the same time. Throw a couple of hundred bucks at a changer that will contain your entire collection, if it suits you, and invest in some stuff from Xantech (http://www.xantech.com) or Channel Plus (mostly the same stuff) to repeat IR commands from a one place to equipment located elsewhere. This can also be used with VCRs, DVD players, and probably an LIRC-using MP3-playing Linux box.
Don't use a huge, burdensome mixer to negotiate different sources. Samson isn't particularly well-known for the quality of their gear, and that combined with long, unbalanced lines is probably the root of your whole-house AM reciever symptom. A dual-zone preamp or stereo reciever, or two normal stereo preamps/recievers (and a mess of Y cables) will serve well to differentiate sources for different zones, particularly when combined with a minimalistic Xantech system and a learning remote (or several, depending on needs). And, you get to remove lots of rather hideous electronics from the loop - no mixer is as transparent as a minimalist preamp.
I can hear you whine "But, then I wouldn't see the display on my CD player from the bedroom!" Realistically, when is the last time you actually used it? It's not as if you'll be doing cueing for post-production while laying in bed, watching TV.
I can also hear you whine "But, then I wouldn't be able to listen to the TV in stereo while in the bedroom!", which is similarly untrue. Forget about the tuner in the TV, and use the VCR, cable box, satellite reciever, or whatever you have in the computer room. Run 1 (one) drop of RG-whatever to provide video from this point to the remote TV. Control it with Xantech. If you choose a dual-zone A/V preamp, it will facilitate the switching of video sources.
And for the final whine: "But, with this configuration, I won't be able to hear my computer beep at me while I'm listening to a CD!" Well, if you eliminate all the present complexity and the 24-channel console, you won't be hearing your packet station whenever someone checks their email, either. At any rate, Midiman (http://www.midiman.com) sells a few small, minimalist stereo mixers. Use one in the computer room to combine the output of the zoned switching machine (whatever that may end up being) and the computer, again using the shortest cables possible. If that's not hi-fi enough for your tastes, scope out Ashly (http://www.ashly.com). Ashly equipment is not inexpensive, but the trouble it saves is invaluable.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but the problems you experience using a mix board as the heart of your audio system are precisely the reasons why they're best avoided if at all possible, and also a firm demonstration of the "less is more" phenominon.
I'd write more, but the power just went out, and I have no idea when it might be back. The UPS is howling.
A few links (Score:2)
If you're wiring an existing house, I have one word: fishtape (go to your local home improvement big-box and ask). If I was building a house, I'd ask the contractor to put some thick cable conduit in the walls, terminating in key spots. That way, you could fish wires in and out later, with minimal hassle.
Greg
Re:home LAN (Score:2)
In reference to the small home network and metal shelves that fjordboy talked about above. Here are some pictures of the stuff:
[matthoppes.org]
Our Server and such
Our UPSes on the rack [matthoppes.org]
All that this is is a metal shelf, but it works great to keep the batteries off the floor (wetness is bad for batteries), and it's all good!
The small home network (Score:3)
Our Server and such [matthoppes.org]
Our UPSes on the rack"> [matthoppes.org]
All that this is is a metal shelf, but it works great to keep the batteries off the floor (wetness is bad for batteries), and it's all good!
Re:From personal experience (Score:2)
Also use "keystone jacks" in the walls. These are plastic wall plates with almost-square holes in them, and jacks which snap into the holes. There are many jacks available such as Cat5 RJ45, "F" (cable TV), RJ11 (telephone), and speaker cables. Keeps the wall looking nice, covers a hole which gives you access for pulling more cables, and holds the wires in place. Keystone jacks are available from some hardware stores and mail-order network shops.
There also are metal plates available for holding the cover plates -- cut a hole in the wall, fold the plate inside/behind the hole, and you've got a frame with the proper screw holes.
X-10 In The Wall (Score:2)
For those who want to spend more and don't like the X-10 design, there also are other technologies for power control. They tend to require running additional wires to a controller. A little searching for "home automation" or chasing the other links in these articles will find the current selection.
Re:Setting up a 802.11 network (Score:2)
eth0 = external interface
eth1 = 192.168.1.1 (wired net)
wvlan0 = 192.168.2.1 (wireless net/silver card)
And the routing table:
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.2.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wvlan0
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
xxx.xxx.xxx.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 xxx.xxx.xxx.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
The firewall serves up DHCP IP's for the wired network, and the wireless network (which only includes my laptop for now) are hardcoded. So, my laptop is configured to use 192.168.2.2 with a mask of 255.255.255.0 and a default gateway of 192.168.2.1. I also have DNS running on the firewall on eth1 (192.168.1.1), so I've just told my laptop to use that IP for its primary DNS.
Routing on the firewall is automatic. Any packet that is sent from the laptop to any external host is easily routed:
192.168.2.2 -> 192.168.2.1 -> eth0 on firewall -> external host
and vice-versa (with a NAT'ed laptop):
external host -> eth0 on firewall -> 192.168.2.1 -> 192.168.2.2
In other words, the router (firewall) is smart enough to talk back and forth between the 2 subnets, provided you *allow* it in your firewall ruleset. I'm using debian and ipchains for my firewall, but I'm sure that BSD/ipnat will allow the traffic to flow just the same. Updating my firewall was the one thing that I forgot to do initially -- until I allowed 192.168.2.x traffic to flow, *nothing* worked.
The *only* issue I have right now is trying to get Samba (on one of my "wired" machines) to exist in both subnets. The only way I can see the shares on the box is by IP address, not Netbios name. I'm sure this is something simple in the smb.conf file, but I haven't figured it out...yet.
Patch Panels (Score:2)
If a network link goes bad, or your phone line starts acting up you don't want to be pulling wires apart. Mucb better to just unplug something. Takes a bit more space in your wiring closet. But well worth it.
In my case, I have all the voice lines running to the left side of the punch down block, and the right sides are all tied together (since I don't have a pbx). The two sides are connected together with shorting connectors.
The Ethernet lines come separately on the left and right side of the punch down block, and the center terminals are wired to RJ45s, which then plug into my ethernet hub/switch.
(Thanks to Tom and Peet for teaching me this and other important wiring lessons.)
Re:Conduit... (Score:2)
BTW, security of fiber is not what many people think: Anybody that wants the data on a fiber bad enough to try to physically tap it is going to know that they can simply dunk the cable into some really nasty solvents to eat away the jacket, then simply flex the cable enough to cause a little light leakage in the bend and hook up an optical receiver and amplifier. Note that this method avoids ever severing the cable, and is quite hard to detect...
Re:home LAN (Score:3)
And yes, I used to design premises wiring systems. This was so blatant an error, I thought it should be stomped out now before someone believes this BS.
If you really want to understand how to do wiring right, spend a little time at the Siemon or Leviton web sites. This stuff is not that hard, so long as you listen to people who know what they're talking about.
My recommendations for homes in a nutshell:
1) dont' fall for expensive wiring centers (On-Q and their ilk)
2) use cat 5 wiring, jacks, punch-down blocks, and patch cables - that's plenty adequate. Run 2 jackets (16 wires or 8 pairs total) to each location you think you'll want a phone or computer device in the next five years. (Don't go overboard - I see a lot of new houses here in Austin with a ridiculous amount of wiring. I have only what I need, and I'm quite happy with it. Remember wireless is an option, too...
3) I like the little Leviton modular outlets.
4) The same little Leviton modules can be snapped into a very inexpensive 8-hole metal bracket they sell to provide the equivalent of a small patch panel at much lower cost.
5) Stick to well-known wiring standards: Use EIA/TIA 568A (general stds) and 606 (labeling).
6) There are also pair-to-pin standards. I prefer T-568A, although T-568B is also a good alternative. (Note the "T", which spcifies the "termination" spec, not the generic 568A spec mentioned above.) Avoid RBOC and other schemes as they're less common and will confuse other people.
7) Spend some time at web sites devoted to cabling before diving in. You'll be glad you did.
8) Look around for tools, too: There are a number of special drill bits, wire retrievers, string throwers, etc, that can make the job easier. Some are worth the money even for a home job.
9)There's just no subsitute for a 3-foot long drill bit when you really need one, and despite what someone said elsewhere in this discussion, don't open up the drywall if you can help it. It's not usually necessary, the repairs always show, and doing so represents a substantial failure of creativity and imagination.
An alternative solution? (Score:2)
The idea of kids with ethernet drops in their bedrooms gives me the heebie jeebies. It isn't just the rare incidents of Internet stalking. It's just that I think that a parent should stay involved with the media his or her children consume until they are ready to undertake adult responsibilities on their own.
Of course, I don't like TVs in bedrooms either...
Setting up a 802.11 network (Score:5)
The first thing you'll need is (obviously) a wireless access point. For this, I would recommend the Linksys WAP 11 [linksys.com] wireless NAP. This is an inexpensive (~$240) piece of equipment that has worked flawlessly for me thus far. There are more expensive and more capable access points, but IMHO you can't go wrong with this one, at least for a home setup. Note that this access point is a straight pass-through; it does not do DHCP or anything like that. For me, this isn't an issue because my DSL router acts as a DHCP server.
Some more notes about the WAP11: it comes "out of the box" configured with an IP address of 192.168.1.250. Again, this was fine for me since my home network is 192.168.*.* based. Obviously, this can be changed, but the provided configuration software is Windows-only. You can configure the unit either by plugging in the provided USB cable and running the USB-based configuration program, or you can do it via a SNMP-based configuration client. Oh, and before I forget
Okay, so now you've got an access point plugged into your network hub. The next thing you need is a wireless card. If you're networking a laptop, grab a Lucent ORiNOCO 802.11 Silver PC card [wavelan.com]. Linksys makes its own wireless PC card, and if you're buying the Linksys access point, you may be tempted to buy the same brand for the PC card. Don't. Linksys's card works fine, but its range is limited; it is far less than what they advertise. The radio that the Lucent cards use is far, far better. Many people have reported tripling their ranges when switching from the Linksys to the Lucent card.
I've had no problems with the Lucent card. Hell, they even include the source code for Linux drivers on the installation CD! The Linux driver you're looking for is "wavelan2_cs", and it supports 64-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) (40-bit, actually) encryption. For the sake of full disclosure, however, it should be pointed out that WEP's security is under fire [berkeley.edu] (expanded PDF version [berkeley.edu])
In general, if you're looking for raw speed, you're not going to get it with 802.11b (or, at least, you aren't going to get wired speeds.) For me, I mainly use my network to surf the Internet, and my DSL downstream bandwidth maxes out at 1 Mbps or so
Re:One word: (Score:2)
60 Hz Hum (Score:2)
March in there with 15 bucks per RCA cable you want the hum removed from and purchase "ground loop isolators". It'll be a small round transistor with RCA jacks on each side. 60 HZ hum begone.
The sad thing is that the local movie theater (Hollywood in Mobile, AL) has a 60 Hz hum in every one of its brand new statium theaters. I'm sure Sony would be glad to know their new state-of-the-art theater sound is being ruined by some rednecks in Alabama. I personally avoid the theater because for 7 bucks a pop, there really shouldn't be a 60hz hum in the theater.
Agreed! (and a tip) (Score:2)
One thing I find very helpful when doing this is to first of all take a ball (NOT a roll) of heavy string or nylon and pass that down from the exit. Hopefully you'll be able to guide it a little by tapping on the ducts on the way down.
When you reach the bottom, tie the string to the end of the cable, and pull back up. I find it particularly helpful to put a small sandwich bag over the end of the cable, tied in place with an elastic band. This ensures that the cable stays clean.
Good luck!
My Experiences (Score:5)
1) Always do it right.
By this, I mean don't do anything half-assed just because it's a home installation. This is a mistake I see a lot of people making. Network cable is rather fragile (if you want to maintain 100BaseT capability). This means that running it over the floor, through heating ducts, and what not is generally not a good idea. Plus, running the cable that way is just ugly, and a potential danger. And besides, drywall is easy to patch.
Also, it's incredibly important to document which cable is which. There is nothing more frustrating then trying to figure out which jack/end in one room matches up with which cable down in another room. The easiest way to do this is to come up with a numbering convention for your home, and then mark these numbers on both ends of the cable with some sort of label (Masking tape/pen works fine).
All the cable in our network terminates is laid to cat-5 specifications, and terminates in a proper wall plate on one end, and a patch pannel (see Ours [www.sfu.ca]) on the other. This has saved us hours of trying to track down problems, and allows us to quickly bypass problems should one occur. If I were to do our network again, the only change I would make would be to use a 50 pair horizontal cross connect cable to go from our second floor to the wiring closet.
2) Don't underestimate how much cable you need.
The other mistake I see people making is that they underestimate how much cable they need to run to their bedroom, or any other room. Invariably, this leads to chaining hubs, and all sorts of other problems. It's best to pull lots of cable, and if you don't need it right now, just leave it in the walls for future use.
In our place, we pulled 4 lines to each of the bedrooms, and that's barely enough. As it stands, the three of us that live in our home are all using all four drops in each bedroom.
3) Always pull a string.
Whenever you pull cable through floors/ceilings/walls always pull a string along with the cable, and do your best to keep it from getting tangled or twisted around the cable. This string can then be used, in turn, to pull the next cable. When you're done, leave a string in place, in case you suddenly realise you need a nother cable. Your cheap Polyester twine that can be had from Home Depot will be more then adequate.
4) Don't go totally overboard.
Don't spend too much on stuff that you don't need. Cat-5e isn't really worth it, since gigabit can go over properly laid Cat-5, don't lay fiber unless you intend to actually use it, don't buy plenum cable unless your fire code requires it, ect.. Really, always just keep an eye out for the best price/reliability values out there.
This is more important for things like jacks and connectors then for hubs/switches. With a good quality jack, the wires will not come loose. We've been bitten by this more then a few times, and have had to punch things down more often then we'd like.
Hubs and switches, in general, are pretty reliable no matter who makes them. For home use, there really isn't much point in purchasing the latest and greatest 3Com switch, when something less expensive will do the trick. It's highly unlikely that you will need to use all the bells and whistles an expensive one would provide you with.
5) Think Safety.
When opening up walls to pull cable and/or drilling exploratory holes, always be weary of hitting electrical cabling. 120V is not something that you want to hit with a hand saw. Also, be careful if you're up on a ladder. It's very easy to come un-ballanced while doing a hard pull.
6) Add Toys.
The last thing to do, once you have a stable platform to work on is to add toys. 802.11 is fun, and incredibly cool, but still much more expensive then a wired solution (as long as you're handy, and can do a reasonable job yourself).
Anyway, I hope this information helps people out with their plans. If there is enough interest, I can put together a list of materials that we used, to give an idea of what works. (Most of our equipment comes from Lin Haw).
My experience (Score:2)
Anyhow, when we moved in (it is a rental), I decided to get @Home service (we are too far out for good DSL), and we needed to wire up a LAN so both my machines and my GF's machine could share the modem.
We now have 3 machines on the network, and can actually put more on - I use a FreeSco box for NAT/routing - works pretty sweet.
Anyhow, one thing I did in order to wire the house, since I didn't want to crawl in the attic (think a basketball court size attic, with blown in insulation throughout, and you will understand why I don't like going up there) to run cables, was to run the CAT5 along the molding the edged the paneling along the ceiling. Where I had to traverse rooms, I simply drilled through the wall.
If you pull the molding back, you will probably find you have a bit of room for one or two runs of CAT5 or CAT3 (most likely only one). Simply place the wire in the crevice, and attach the molding back, using care not to nail through the wire (baaad).
If you use CAT3 instead of CAT5 it will be a bit cheaper, plus, because of the tight bends anyhow, you probably won't be able to run over 10 MB (10BaseT). For cable modem sharing, this isn't a problem. However, if you will be doing a lot of internal network sharing or such, go another route. I must say this method has worked great for me, and the CAT5 I did use came from a leftover pull from my employer, that they pulled from the ceiling...
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Ars Technica has HOWTO here... (Score:2)
My Network... (Score:2)
Basement 8 port netgear hub, 5 running to my new computer area, 2 servers (all hidden in back room).
Basement 8 port linksys switch, 1 from upstairs, 1 to center of newly finished basement for convienent lan party uplink to cable modem, 1 to basement hub, additional space for servers and future wiring of 1st floor. uplink to cable modem (soon to be uplink to linksys router then to cable modem, damn road runner stealing my 5 ip's back
i had a ascii diagram but the crappy lameness filter wouldnt let me post it
Re:home LAN (Score:3)
Instead of grounding, ethernet uses differential signals. Each direction (send and receive) has a pair of wires. If the wires are at the same voltage, it is a physical "0", if the + pin is 5V higher, it is a physical "1". (I belive it is 5V logic, but am not actually sure). Since the pairs are twisted, any "line noise" will affect both wires the same, and the difference will be the same at the other end. This is also the way differential SCSI, and most multi-drop physical protocols work)
10BaseTx and 100BaseTx require two pairs. Many premade cables don't even have the other two pairs, and the spec allows you to use one or both of the unused pairs as phone or other connections (that is why the wiring diagram skips the center two pins -- those are reserved for phone use). I wired my parents house, and most of the cables are split so one run of Cat5 gives two 100BaseTx ports.
100BaseT4 (a competing 100 Mbit ethernet standard that never took off) requires all 4 pairs, but works with only Cat3 cables, instead of Cat5.
One word of warning: If you run ethernet along exterior walls, consider adding surge supressors to the ethernet. We has a near lightning strike that as near as we can tell grounded through the chimney, inducing large currents in the ethernet cable running right next to it. No physical damage to our house, but it destoyed or damaged 4 motherboards, CPUs, and ethernet cards, a laser printer, and the hub.
The proper way to wire a new house... (Score:5)
-p.
Wireless LAN (Score:2)
Re:Wireless LAN (Score:2)
Cat5 isnt a limit, its an enabler! (Score:2)
In each of the bedrooms, we also had a second networking jack, for a private network we never did set up.
To do so, a *wondefully awesome* friend came out and did the majority of the work. We cut through plaster and slat walls, we dropped lines thru the ceiling.
We set a de-marcation point in the attic, with a punchdown block, for the telephone lines.
When all was said and done, the DSL installer came, and upon checking it out, was rather shocked. He said he had never seen such a setup.
We went from crackling phone lines, and 30k dialups to 50k (EVERY SINGLE TIME) dialups, and when DSL got there, we maxed out the connection.
The installer said he had also never seen a connection get full bandwidth usage.
Needless to say, we loved that house, and had many gaming sessions from that room.
Sadly, I had to move to pursue my career, but my friends are still there, although only for a bit longer.
The point is, cat5 and patience can make for an excellent house. The only thing I can imagine doing differently is to maybe add speaker wire, and use conduits for the wires.
And I would definitely reward my friend better next time. (Thanks Simba!)
farraday cage (Score:2)
It *would* be rather nice.
Re:home LAN (Score:2)
Conduit... (Score:4)
The problem with running everything in conduit is the price (much more $$$), and you have to do it while the house is being built (unless you want to tear down walls..)
I think the 2nd best thing to do is run 2 or 3 Cat5 (or better, cat 6?) wires everywhere, even for the phone jacks. That way you have spares incase you want to add a network jack somewhere.
Some people might think about fiber also. I'm not sure as to the costs/benefits. I think fiber is a pain to run (it can't be bent to much, can't be pulled to hard,
Also, don't forget the coax for cable TV, and speaker wires for the cool surround sound system
Re:My Two Cents... (Score:2)
As far as data networking goes, I'm renting an apartment now, so I'm stuck with cables running all over the floors. One useful thing is 1/2 round wire hiders that you can buy at any home improvement store. You can generally choose a color that more or less blends with your carpet.
_____________
Re:The proper way to wire a new house... (Score:2)
I paid for a guy to run >4000 ft of Cat5e and 12 pairs of speaker wires along with video cameras and wire a home theater (wired for both a TV and a projector for future expansion).
I paid someone else to do this work, but it is going to be quite incredible. Modulating video cameras mounted in the kids rooms over the cable line to channel 133 and 134 (also front and side doors and 2 driveway cams on 135-8)... Auto-switching speakers in the room (switches to TV audio as soon as you turn the TV on, etc.)
To reiterate... put the conduit in AND the wire in now. You will fill your conduit with cables (especially any coax used for audio/video) pretty quickly.
Also, check with your builders first to see codes on how big the holes can be in the studs and joists without needing reinforcement.
Pull lots of pairs--the wire is the cheap part (Score:2)
If you're building a house, and therefore don't have to pay much for the labor in running the wire, run lots of pairs. Make a wild guess about the maximum you'll ever use, and double it.
The wire is cheap compared to the cost of running new stuff later, and almost anything can be run over good twisted pair.
I'd recommend two 4 pair runs from each room to a "wiring closet" or similar location for networking, two more 4 pair runs for phones (yes, I know a normal phone line only takes one pair--what if you later want a home PBX or key system?), a 4 pair run for speakers and/or intercom system, and toss in another run of 4 pair for future expansion.
It doesn't cost six times as much to have them do six parallel runs of four pair cable. Take advantage of it. Even if you never use half the runs, the one time you need an extra pair to a particular spot you'll be glad you had it run in advance. When we had a new office wired at my last job we did this, and it came in handy when we found that the new copier wanted to be able to "phone home". If we'd bought one that could take a PostScript RIP we would have had Ethernet available there too--no new wire run needed.
If you're really gung-ho, run some nice fat conduit so you can pull fiber later....
Bed Surfing (Score:2)
SOHO and House Network (Score:2)
Then I run those through a linksys dsl/cable router that gives me 4+1 ports. (Since this time (six months ago), I believe they now offer an 8+1 with print server capabilities) I like that it acts as a basic firewall (still use a good firewall program), DHCP and DMZ server.
Then power. I gotta have the power. Two 20 amp runs into the office. Not two at the switch, two to the switches. I put in 4 gang boxes, but I am not certain I would do that again. Put 2s in and spread them out. The fours never let me plug in multiple transformers without cursing. [Hint... Mount one outlet prong up, the other down) [Hint 2: put in GFIs in the first outlets. They will take a lightening hit before your boxes]
Keep the lights on their own circuit and split the power to the boxes so that we never have more than one box on a switch to outlet line. (Hint#3...Put in a whole house surge suppressor, I do not trust it to protect everything, but expect it to blow out first and give the other stuff a fighting chance $50 at home depot)
If you are going to go wireless, buy with a return policy. It is funny (strange, not haha) that connections fail to connect in the living room, but will connect from the deck outside (25 feet further away). However, if it won't go where you need it, then it is useless.
Running through the ducts, I have not had a need to do wireless, but I did price it for fun. Way over the top for less throughput. Unless you cannot wire, do CAT5.
Finally, if you have not read one of the may "how to wire your own network" articles do so. Simple test: If you cannot tell when you would use a cross-over cable, you are not ready. [BTW - that was the easy question] This is not hard, but you get out of it what you put into it.
Good luck...
what to use for clients? (Score:2)
Wiring isn't the issue for me, or for most people -- the issue is, what do you hook up to all of those jacks? What kind of thin clients can you have around the house for a relatively cheap price?
For Audio go balanced (Score:2)
Most important: Label extensively, and take careful notes.
Re:One word: (Score:2)
I drilled a few holes in ceilings and walls, but otherwise just pinned cables up along the walls and edges of floors, and I don't have any cable in the way anywhere... attics are good to drop cables out of, btw
X10 doesn't have to be those ugly boxes! (Score:2)
(And no, I'm not a shill for x10.)
You don't need those heavy bricks to use X10. There are wired-in x10 outlets and wall switches. These units fit inside the regular electrical boxes that wall switches and outlets fit.
In my apartment, I replaced three outlets around the kitchen counter with X10 in-the-wall outlets [x10.com]. Each outlet has one controllable plug and one always-powered plug. From those, I got some of those 20" light rails, and adhered them to the underside of the kitchen cabinets. These come on at dusk, and go off at 2am, by a perl script I wrote. I can control them (and the rest of the lights in the house) any other time with remote controls I have placed here and there.
The wall light switches are also wirable; they have "decorator" versions [x10.com] now that look like the flat rocker switches (but they actually aren't rockers, they're spring-loaded momentaries). Tap to toggle, or hold to dim.
I just started using the motion sensors [x10.com] to turn lights on in the closets and hallway. Keychain remote controls [x10.com] to flip some lights from the car.
Some of the 1980s x10 stuff is big and clunky, but they're definitely getting smaller and slicker. They have their oddball stuff, though. A universal remote control with a built-in corkscrew bottle opener? Glad they gave that for free, I wouldn't buy it.
Watch out for new homes (Score:2)
My father is a retired TelCo cable splicer and repairman. Some of his favorite stories are of going into very expensive homes to fix problems with the phones only to find out that the builder used the cheapest possible wire that actually met code. And with the whole house wired with cheap low quality wiring, there is little that he could do to correct problems like cross talk between lines in the home using normal voice frequencies, let alone handling network-type bandwidth.
So, when building a new home, be sure to be personally involved in the wiring and be prepared to have to spell out every detail, because when the builder has a choice, they will always pick the lowest cost option. For instance, if all you're doing is twisted pair, be ready to explicitly require (and pay for) CAT-5, rather than the more common CAT-3 which meets code.
If you have the money, work with a home wiring specialist who knows about wiring a home for networking and multimedia. Get them talking to the general contractor as early as possible to make sure that the wiring goes in right and at the right time. There are some really nice prepackaged wiring harnesses, jacks, plates, panels and assorted goodies out there now. A complete home wiring package with multiple phone, twisted pair ethernet, cable and fiber to every room from a central wiring closet only adds a few thousand dollars to a new home price, which is fiddling small change on a decent >$150K home.
flood flood flood (Score:2)
One thing on the fibre debate; some people are saying "fibre is cheap to put in" and others "yeah, but the interfaces are expensive"; a third option for real future-proofing it to run dark cable; i.e. while you're putting your CAT5 in put some un-used fibre next to it; then you can gradually migrate as time goes on.
My apt's LAN (Score:2)
We have the server closet which houses our switch and 2 hubs, our main gateway box and an old box that just performs dhcpd. From this closet we make use of some prexisting holes that a previous tennant drillied in the ceiling (and some we made) to lay enough cat5 to everywhere the computers are.
The dhcpd is setup such that all the permanant machines get static addresses, and we have a pool of dynamic addresses to be assigned to any other machine that shows up (if we wanted to have a LAN party for instance).
All internet service is provided via NAT on the gateway with a single routable IP provided by Time Warner (roadrunner) cable.
If i had teh opportunity to have a say in wiring from the start of building the house i would make sure to take into account everyone elses concerns for what to lay wire for, but equally important is Power.
In my apt we have a dual 50A breaker for 2 phases of power coming into the apt (50A on each phase) and we have managed to damage that breaker to the point that our apt had maybe 10% power for a couple days while we waited teh maint crews to replace it (and of course that 10% power was used to run as many of the pc's as we could manage. refrigerator?). Make sure you have enough power for what you plan to run, and make sure it is wired in a sane fashion (been in apts where the washer/dryer was on the same circuit as the living room outlets) as none of your wiring means anything without power (and those UPS's only last so long...)
I'm moving away from my apt in the next month or two, so my next project is wiring the new apt and setting up a VPN to the old one
My experience and advice.. (Score:2)
On wiring for new construction...I considered wireless, but the standards are always changing. Wireless can work later if you need it, but wiring can't be so easily upgraded. Wire your home properly to one access point. Remember to leave a wire drop in your attic or basement in case you forget to wire a specific location.
We ended up using the IBM Home Director ( link [homedirector.com] ) for the central wiring location. This allows me to control and reroute all the phone lines, computer networking, and cable.
For the physical wiring, we ran two independent CAT5 wires to each multimedia jack in our home. We also ran two RJ-45 coaxial cables to each point. The CAT5 can carry telephone or computer networking when using the home director, so you're really flexible. Having a LAN party? Unplug your phone lines at the box and plug it into the built in switch, for example.
The coax is nice because not only can we route standard cable to any room, we have a separate wire in there to rebroadcast throughout the house. For example, if you're running a DVD in the living room it can be fed back through to the Home Director and then sent out to other rooms easily.
On X10. This seems to be the most popular thing out there. I've been mildly successful with them. There are lots of modules available, and you can replace your standard switches and plugs with "in wall" versions of the plug-in modules. I have been replacing things in my house gradually - I wish I would have just had the electrician install them for me.
Also, don't plan on doing everything now. Although I have scads of wiring throughout the house, only 25% of it is hooked up right now. I don't NEED ethernet jacks in the kid's bedroom right now...So the wires are just there (clearly labeled, remember that part hehe) for the future.
I also would not recommend running all your wiring to a basement or garage that isn't going to have environmental control. I put mine in our walk in closet in the master bedroom. There's plenty of room here later if I need to expand outside the in-wall box. I wouldn't want to have a router or something like that sitting in a damp basement or someplace that wasn't going to be comfortable to work on it.
It's really not that expensive to put systems like this in during the building process. It's well worth it to not have to drag wires when you want to add a phone line to x room.
Good luck,
Case
ALL YOUR WIRES... (just kidding, hehe)
Software important too! And Desks! (Score:2)
If you have the budget, consider a real machine for your central server. (By real machine I mean a server with RAID array, not a HP-UX box) I'd spend the extra for a Compaq Proliant, they'll make your life easier, but you can certainly build your own. If you run Windows machines for gaming, etc., then plop NT on there... I prefer NT4, but Win2K will work as well. Setting up the basic system will be easy. If you are more of a geek, you can of course do this with Linux/BSD/Solaris.
Essentially, you want a unified logon system, at least for the primary machines. Also, consider buying licenses of Virtual CD. It will let you put your games CDs on the central server and therefore available to everyone. Setting up an NT4 Domain is trivial, and if the machines are all Windows and Linux, you're golden, just mount the share points, and go.
Make sure you get the RAID 5 system. This way, you store all your data on the server and back it up to tape. Most people don't really backup their machines because it is a pain. If all you need to do is swap a tape once a week, you can do it easily, and you won't need to worry about data loss.
If you do the LAN party thing, pick a room that is setup for it. If you got a big house in the burbs, you should have an adequate Den. Consider wiring up little stations. If you want to be fancy, pick up a bunch of 17" monitors from someone liquidating them. Then you have the stations setup and wired, and your friends just plug in.
Firewall. Don't mess with a 486 and two NICs, you'll go nuts. But one of the prebuilt boxes that will route for you. Most of those will also handle your DHCP needs. However, you could also run DHCP off your server.
You need a mail server. If you're loaded or "borrow" a copy from the Office, Exchange is nice Overkill. Reasonably, you just want an IMAP system. Although, if price is no object, you could go nuts here. With the Exchange Server, you can log in from any computer and yours tasks, calendar, etc., are there waitting for you. Although, if you already a nice work e-mail and don't want to mess with local, this is unnecessary.
Routing: do you VPN in to the office? Does your Spouse/Roommate?
You could make life easy (if insecure) and setup a machine as a router. Make this machine the default gateway, and have it maintain your VPN sessions. As long as the offices and your internal IP scheme don't match, you can have LOTS of fun here. If you use Linux, I don't know how to help, but NT/W2K has a registry hack to not shut down dial-ups when you log out. You could have this box route for your offices. And if the IT boys will be helpful, you could have your WINS information pulled from the office computer. In this regard, your home network is on all of your office networks.
Now obviously this is a security risk, but a fun idea regardless...
Wireless... Obviously you need wireless. If you have a laptop, you want it. If any friends do, you want it. The 100MB connection is great for moving large files around, but to just get your Internet access and load files, 11MB is fine. Get enough access points if your house is large.
Now, there is a question as to the usefulness of their security. If you are worried, place the Wireless outside the firewall. Then, put a VPN server in. Use the VPN software on the laptop to have another layer of encryption. This is actually important if you are routing for your VPN networks.
Internet access: DSL or Cable, or if you're snazzy, both. You'd create more of a routing headache, but you eliminate the risk of the network being down. You have those SOHO routers for each connection, then your internal router/proxy divide the load.
Ok, back to earning a paycheck.
Alex
Re:Software important too! And Desks! (Score:2)
Exchange is fine, it just doesn't scale all that well. If you're running a single box for 5-25 people or so, it works nicely.
Again, it's easy to set up, and that counts for something.
I'm not a sysadmin. I can do some basic sysadmining on a Unix box, but I mostly do development. However, I can setup a reasonably MS network.
For a home network, I want easy to do, not needing a full-time job to run.
Besides, I like playing with Exchange. I find it's unintuitive stuff "interesting".
Alex
Re:Conduit... (Score:2)
After the framing is done, before any drywall is up, spend a few hours in the house picturing how it is going to be used. No matter how well you plan, you're always going to want to run something new. The best places (after you're living there) are up and down inside walls, through ductwork (cold air returns are best), along the basement ceiling and across the attic.
Work out a couple of runs from basement to attic and make sure you have easy access to them at both ends. Cold air returns work better than trying to run between studs. Studs usually have fire blocks between floors.
Figure out a way to get access to each room of the house from basement or attic. Take pictures and notes before the drywall is in place. Drill a few strategic holes and consider leaving some flexible wire in place to use in pulling more wires later.
Seriously consider having the electrician put an electrical box with cover somewhere in every room -- they will never be cheaper to put in than now. He/she can suggest a location with access to future wire runs. Your electician may no nothing about networks, but he knows lots about running wires.
Good luck.
One word: (Score:5)
Conduit. Lots and lots of big, easy to access conduit. There is no better way to prepare for future cabling needs.
Velcro (Score:2)
Re:home LAN (Score:2)
Regarding the ductwork being improperly handled in a firewall, that's just foolish. With a proper firewall, half the building can burn down without hurting the other half (much).
I think you're underestimating.And you didn't mention my pet peeve: the building codes that require ethernet to be installed in metal conduit. What, to keep people from driving a nail into the Ethernet and being accidentally digitized?! I mean, how many people were killed by Ethernet that they had to make this law?
Re:One word: Mice (Score:2)
Re:Wiring up home networks (Score:2)
Re:Wireless is the solution for completed homes... (Score:2)
Re:wire the wheels (Score:2)
Re:One word: (Score:2)
It is always hard to prepare for future technological needs, but things certainly look like they are moving toward wireless solutions.
It might not be pretty but... (Score:2)
It might not be pretty, but you should consider including easily rewirable conduits of some kind. You could include a central wiring closet, probably in the basement if the house is going to have one, and have conduits running from there to every room in the house. The conduits would be set flush with the wall but have removable covers of some type. That way when you need to rewire, you can just pop off the cover, pull out the old wiring, and run new wiring without having to rip up the walls. If you really want it to look nice, it might be possible to wallpaper over the conduits, so long as there's a clear marking for where they are.
Another point to consider is to make sure that you have enough electrical outlets. If you're really looking at a wired home, you're going to need a lot of power to run all the wired stuff, which means lots of outlets. Think about all the things you have now and then multiply it by 2-4 to figure how many outlets you're going to need for all the additional toys in the future. And don't skimp on having enough breakers and good quality wiring, either, because you don't know what kind of current draw you're going to have.
Re:One word: (Score:2)
Multiple CAT5 cables... (Score:2)
I've been reading a lot about wiring my house (and Asking Slashdot). One tip that I've picked up from comp.home.automation is to run multiple CAT5 cables to each room. That way, you can use 6 wires for network, two for phone and have plenty left over for intercom, stereo, etc.
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802.11 notes etc. (Score:2)
The more common standard is 802.11b. This operates by transieving 100mW at 2.4 GHz. This can ferry about 11 Mbps of data. You know this one more intimately; virtually every wireless networking card utilizes 802.11b.
There's another standard, 802.11a, which pipes through 55 Mbps at around 5 GHz. For those of you who want less people trying to pirate connections, this will work, because 802.11a is MUCH less utilized. (There is also a somewhat more limited range, as transmissions at this level are increasingly more LOS and can't work with walls too well..
As far as internal wiring, many new and remodeled structures in my general area (north side of Chicago) are, in fact, pre-wired for 10baseT (or 100baseTX) networks, and pitch this in their listings! (Talk about a timesaver!)
Only downside I could see to this is if the construction is drekky and the wires get fragged, you're stuck running cat5 along the floorboards...
pak chooie unf
Windows.. Good for targeting rocks.
Re:Multiple servers/conservation... (Score:2)
server daemon.
Of course you're right. For the most part I have most of my stuff running on two machines, a file server running Debian with a bunch of SCSI disks and my tape backup drive, and a win2000 server that I use to serve notes, office and websphere (the kind of crap I work with at the office).
Usually if I'm setting up a separate machine for something, it is because of where it needs to be located (print server in the closet, mp3 'server' in the living room*) or because I am doing something experimental and I dont feel like messing with one of the other machines.
You are right though, it doesn't make much sense to have a dozen machines each doing something different when a couple machines could handle everything.
I've ended up accumulating lots of older hardware and I like to spend my time trying out new things to learn how stuff works. I guess I left the impression that every PC I get my hands on ends up getting something installed on it and then it gets plugged into the network and is left running. That's not really the case. I have my linux file server, my windows app server, my print server and my masq box that stay up all the time. The rest sits on the shelf until I get some idea for something I want to try out.
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Re:An alternative solution? (Score:2)
>It's just that I think that a parent should stay involved with the media his or her children consume until they are ready to undertake adult responsibilities on their own.
No argument there. That's what I do. The difference is I don't have to be standing over them in a common area like a family room to do it.
I've had 'the talk' with them about what my expectations are for 'responsible use'. I've made it clear that I value their privacy and I trust them to use good judgement when they are online. I've also made sure they understand that it is easily within my ability to monitor what they are doing and to impose restrictions if I feel the need.
So far this works very well. I've done some spot-checking now and then and haven't seen them doing anything untoward.
Besides, my oldest is just like I was - he is really picking up things quickly and I envy him the access he has to information at his age. The last thing I want to do is hamper his budding intelect in the name of protecting him from the 'evil internet' TM.
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My biggest problem (Score:4)
I started out with a BAN (Basement Area Network)
This worked for all the 1st floor rooms, but I scratched my head for a long time about how to extend my network to the kids' bedrooms upstairs. I discovered a TV antenna mounted in the attic, with the coax going down to the basement through a conduit.
I tied a string, pulled the cable through, then pulled a length of cat5. I bought another hub and wired the length going to the attic as a cross-over to connect the two hubs. Then I ran cat5 to each room, dropping through small holes drilled in the closets. Again I used surface-mount boxes, installed this time on the inside of each closet near the door. Both the kids' computers are sitting along the walls near the closets, so the patch cable is slipped under the door.
For my server room, I bought some of that wire shelving from Office depot and put it in the small study off in the back of the house to prop up my web server and file server. I got one of those cheapo data transfer switches so I could hook up the monitor and kbd.
I got a cheap rolling cart and set up a print server in the kitchen closet. My company waits about 5 years before they throw out old computers, I happened to be there when they were throwing an old compaq laptop and its docking station out. The display was fried, but the docking station has 2 ISA slots, it was pretty easy to get a $10 ne2000 card to work in there and to get samba running so kids could print from their win boxes.
Problem is, I keep coming up with ideas for stuff I want to do and it usually involves getting an old PC from someone, installing Linux or BSD and running some wires somewhere. A few weeks ago I got really pissed because my ISP's DNS servers were down for the 3rd time that week. A woman I work with had given me an old Packard Bell 486 sh*tbox with a <100 Mb drive, I decided to set it up as a name server.
I have a real problem. Looking around the room here, I have 7 boxes (actually, only 4 of them are on and doing anything right now). Well, guy's gotta have a hobby, right?
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Re:wire the wheels (Score:2)
Be the only geek on your block to be able to read /. after WW3!
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Do-it-yourself testing? (Score:2)
Re:home LAN (Score:2)
Once they found out why people died on the 2nd floor they changed the building codes to requior non-toxic, when burned, Plenum jackets in air spaces, such as false celings and raised floors. Now days, most of the new offices use the false celings for air returns to the HVAC so they need Plenum for everyting. Also you now need what is know as "fire stop" at all core drillings through firewalls to prevent the burnign jackes to carry the flames through to the other side where the fire will spread.
Hope this helps keep you following code.
home LAN (Score:3)
Re:home LAN (Score:3)
it also works as a great annoyance to someone who is upstairs reading and didn't realize you installed a bunch of x10 modules.
to add to my previous post....my friend matt has pictures of our in-house network on his webpage (with the picture of our jury-rigged computer rack) at matthoppes.org [matthoppes.org]
Wired vs. Wireless - Security (Score:2)
From personal experience (Score:2)
Actually, I just wired a house with 3x Cat 5, bnc (hey, he asked), TV cable, 2x phone, some rooms with heavy guage audio cable and get this - 3x FIBER.
Since you can run gigabit ethenet over cat 5, stick with that for basics, its also cheap. Fiber is a bit more expensive, but is fairly easy to work with.
Plan ahead, because after the gyproc is up and the walls are painted, it a pain in the ass to wire.
PS. To all broke college student - you can make really good money doing this - i.e. $1000 - $2500 for a weekend of work. Not bad for something that requires less than $400 in materials.
I have a shotgun, a shovel and 30 acres behind the barn.
Ground Loop (Score:2)
A 60Hz hum is usually caused by a ground loop, i.e. there are multiple paths to ground. While balanced cables will help with RF interferance, they won't do anything for a ground loop.
You need to isolate all your AC and make sure it's on the same circuit. Alternatively, you can buy some of those cheap "3 prong to 2 prong adapters" (we call them "ground lifters" in the audio world) and try them on a few outlets to see if you can lift it that way.
wishus
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practicallynetoworked (Score:2)
Three words (Score:2)
I got a TrueMobile (Lucent) as a gift to myself with my new laptop and I couldn't be happier. I could go from the kitchen to the bedroom to even the bathroom, always getting a crisp cable modem connection. I have since sold the TrueMobile for the 3Com, but the outcome is the same: once you go wireless you never go back. (Plus, upgrading will be a hell of a lot easier down the road.)
Re:My Experiences (Score:2)
It was stated earlier, but can't be repeated often enough: Use Conduit!
Considering item #3 (Always pull a string), it's even more important - and helpful - to run conduit. I wouldn't exactly call it future-proof, but it certainly helps...
A couple of more items from my own recent experience:
1) Clean Power is nice!
SmartHome [smarthome.com] sells in-line power conditioners (read: whole house surge-suppressor) for less than $50US. You can have it wired in at the breaker box by the electrician for a couple of bucks. I cannot stress enough what a difference this makes to X10 installations. And the peace of mind that comes with not having to put every PC/stereo component/TV/etc. on its own surge suppressor is nice, too.
Most modern homes have an external breaker box that splits the incoming line into two: one that feeds the 110V breaker box inside, and another that feeds the 220V appliances like air conditioner/heat pump/furnace, oven, electric clothes drier, etc... The power conditioner goes to the 110V box.
2) If you have the space to set aside a server closet, then do it right.
a. Twin-pole (telecom-grade) racks are cheap and easy to install. If installed properly, they can support a couple of hundred pounds without issue. You can use them to mount your stereo equipment, PCs, switches, routers, etc. This makes cabling a breeze, too.
b. Back to that power thing... Be sure the server closet isn't on the same circuit as some large appliance (or your hairdryer). Have the electrician run a dedicated circuit to that room, using 12 gauge wire. 14 gauge is standard for residential, 12 is slightly larger. It's usually used for 220V lines, but is also useful for higher amperage loads - like lots of computers.
c. Electrical equipment generates heat. Lots of heat.
Do whatever you can to minimize this heat, but you're probably going to have to ventilate. Running a duct to the closet will NOT work. You're pumping cold air in, but you still have to pump hot air out. Plus, what are you going to do in the winter? Your heat pump/furnace will be pumping hot air out of those ducts, toasting your servers.
Suggestions:
1-Use a window unit that ventilates to the outside. Ugly, but cheap and workable.
2-Use a ductless split-vent system. This is a smaller version of your home unit that doesn't use ducts. The compressor sits outside, where it compresses coolant before pumping it back into the house. The chiller/fan unit sits in the server closet and blows hot air over the chillers, extracting the heat from the closet. Expensive, but SO nice. You'll never have to worry about your hardware overheating. You may, however, have to run the drip from the chiller to a humidifier, since these systems tend to dry the air, causing major static electricity buildup.
3-This is what worked for me: Put the server closet in the garage. Install a window unit in the closet, but vent it into the garage. That way you can't see the window unit from outside.
Hopefully the cooling aspect isn't as big a deal for you as it is for me. I live in Central Texas and I have a couple of big, honking Dell toaster... er... servers in my rack. It gets warm.
Good luck!
the simplest! (Score:2)
Linksys box (Score:2)
You almost definitely want a laptop in the kitchen (Score:2)
My first thought would be to use wireless; that's one less interface to have to deal with. Create a wireless network for the ethernet, and you're set. Add wireless keyboards and mice, and that improves the situation, though due to the hazardous nature of the two environments, an optical mouse like Apple's (one button, no openings for stuff to fall in, you can actually wrap it up in saran wrap as well), and one of those freaky waterproof membrane keyboards. But keyboards are cheap, you cah probably use a standard USB keyboard and just be careful to clean it out once in a while
For the monitor you almost definitely want some form of LCD; they don't have some of the size/water problems that a CRT does
Even better, get an LCD and encase it in a plexiglass/aluminum container to protect it
Essentially a laptop will work best; get an old one, place it inside a secure and protected container, and give it some wireless optical accessories. When it's not in use, fold it up into it's protected container, and it won't ever get in trouble. The optical mouse will have no tracking issues, no gunk issues, and the keyboard, well, make sure it's cheap
Geek dating! [bunnyhop.com]
Re:My biggest problem (Score:2)
Re:LAN issues from a Regulation standpoint (Score:2)
Re:LAN issues from a Regulation standpoint (Score:2)
Re:home LAN (Score:4)
When my family moved into the home we currently live in, there were all of TWO phone jacks on one phone line over three floors and almost 2000 sq feet. Not good. For the first couple of weeks you couldn't walk around without tripping over some phone extension coming up from the basement ;-)
Because this house is in an area where break-ins are not uncommon, we decided to get a security system put in. In general, you'll find that the guys (or gals!) who install such systems tend to be highly knowledgeable about exactly how to bring wires from the attic to the basement without ripping the wall open to do it. For a very reasonable surcharge, they were able to wire each room in our home with cat5 professionally and quickly. It would have taken us days to do the same thing. (Of course we still had to crimp the cable and wire the outlets.) So if you want to get cat5 AND a security system installed, you might want to use this method to kill two birds with one stone. And because standard cat5 has FOUR pairs in it, one cable can support TWO LANs (at two pairs each) or one LAN and two phone lines. (Each phone takes 1 pair.)
Home networking for Dummies? (Score:5)
Get your electrician to lay the cable if you want it neat and haven't got the time (or skill).
Choose decent cable UTP Cat 5 or higher is fine.
Best avoid laying cables in parallel to power.
Use switches not hubs whenever possible - they are cheap these days
Set aside some space to serve as a central place for your server(s)
You can mix media, so Wireless extensions to a wired network might make sense in your building (especially if you'd like to share with the neighbours)
Find your local nerd to help secure your computer if you plan to share an internet connection (especially if it's broadband!)
Keep at least one network game (remember the locations of valuable items on the maps) and a few bottles of coke handy just in case friends drop by
there is probably countless other tips =) ..
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Re:home LAN (Score:3)