ECN Forum Forums Technical Discussion Re: Computers and the Internet USB Cables

Is USB cable shielded? If so it might go quite a ways on regular T/R cable (4 wire STP). The big difference between USB and T/R is it isn't a ring.

Token Ring 802.5 can either be run on the old type-1 cabling or unshielded twisted pairs (cat5)

I like TokenRing. It's like a lot of IBM's technology -- very solid and well thought-out. It is a lot less wasteful than an Ethernet network and it is also a lot better in a lab situation because one can have deterministic responses, without all those collisions. Bit of a bother with a lot of modern software that tries to obtain their license keys by depending on a fixed MAC address though, because TR drivers for network cards generally allocate the numbers on a dynamic basis :-)

Unfortunately, if required to do the marketing for a posh new Sushi restaurant, I believe that IBM's marketing division would put out a blackboard on the street outside that said 'cold, dead fish'

Scott,
Thanks a lot for providing that info, it was just what I was after.

jooles,
At least that would be telling the truth.
It makes me wonder what the blackboard would say if the M$ marketing team were let loose on a blackboard like that?.

USB cabling is shielded, either with foil, braid, or both (I have two clear cables, and they are braided, another where the sheild is just wrapped around.

1394 is different. It has two pairs for data (USB has one pair), but optionally has power (there are 4 and 6 way connectors and cables)

AFAIK, for both USB and 1394 it is 5V power .