Dan Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> from: >> So, one thing we debated at work - if you have a computer that >>auto-crossovers, and a >> device that auto-crossovers (say, a printer), would they possibly get >>into an uplink >> fight? Basically, is the timing, etc, defined by a standard, or is it >>vendor-dependant? > >I don't know the standard(s) involved but I have never had a problem. > >That could be because the MDI/MDIX auto-crossover hasn't penetrated the >market enough. It seems like I usually see it on Broadcom based devices.
I've talked to Linksys (makers of cheap auto-MDI/MDI-X switches as one of the things in their large portfolio) and Marvell about it. Certain older devices that don't act totally up to the Ethernet spec in the first place can cause crossover wars. But they've seen very little of it from devices that are up to par, which is almost all devices from the last few years, and most devices ever made. Marvell was one of the first companies to put auto-MDI/MDI-X crossover selection as well as auto-sensing for speed into their chips, but it's now very common. It's hard, but not impossible, to buy recently introduced switches and computers without the capability. It's also almost impossible to configure the auto-crossover. Under Mac OS X, you can turn auto-speed selection off and configure it (in Panther at least), but you can't turn auto-crossover off. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Glenn Fleishman, Unsolicited Pundit: read my work at http://glennf.com Senior editor of JIWIRE, your guide to Wi-Fi - http://www.jiwire.com/ Macintosh columnist, The Seattle Times http://seattletimes.com/ptech/ Contributing editor, TidBITS, -the- Mac newsletter http://tidbits.com Read daily wireless networking industry news at http://wifinetnews.com -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
