Our networking teacher took us over to the Maine Public Broadcasting buildings to show us how her network was set up and let us see some of the physical components. Also, we saw the actual production facilities. (Memorably for me, this means I was one button press away from stopping Maine Public Broadcasting! Mwa ha ha!)
She showed us cable, and she showed us where the fiber optics were set up, and all the older hardware that was still in there. "This, right here -- we don't even use this anymore." She gestured at a 10-port switch (excuse my poor grasp of the terminology; this class is literally my only exposure to networking) as she said it. "All the systems in this whole building used to go through it." At this point, she swept her arm around the room, indicating all the other stuff that was there now; the enormous Cisco router, the other things I didn't identify, the punch-down boxes. (?)
It suddenly occurred to me that while I was glad I was seeing this, and it was interesting, and I'm always glad to learn something new (it all helps eventually) I was also very, very glad that this wasn't what I had set my career sights on.
And then the question of the night reverberated through my head:
"So what have you set your career sights on?"
I don't know. It worries me.
The script...there's very little I can say about the script that isn't properly expressed in incoherent noises. I know it's not doing what it's supposed to, but my brain is like a skittish Jenga player; it doesn't know what to push out and where to put it afterwards, and it doesn't want to topple it.
More caffeine, I guess.
Oh, and I won't be able to work on the script Thursday. I had *forgotten* about Thanksgiving! (I've always had a tendency to forget holidays, but I was always good with Thanksgiving and Christmas...of course, if you don't know Christmas is coming up by mid-November, you're dead from the neck up. All that wretched advertising.)
Rest assured I shall set myself back upon it Friday, and continue for some time tonight if possible. :)
It's a punchdown block, also called a 110 patch panel. It's used to connect a group of cables from a wiring closet to the wall socket or, like in my house which is wired, from the cable modem patch panel to each of the wall jacks. Cat5 cable [ twisted pair is another name for it ] has 4 pairs of wires going through it in 4 paired colours.
If you look at an RJ45 connector that's made of clear plastic you'll be able to see the colours and, depending on the type of cable patch or x-over, the arrangement differs.
Network cabling is a snap once you get the hang of it.
Re:punchdown
chaoticset on 2001-11-21T20:47:04
Ah HA! So that's what we made...she had us constructing foot-long "patch cables", and I missed the explanation of where they connected to it.On the other hand, I had real trouble with the orange and green (due to my color deficiency). I still have that patch cable.
:) Thanks for the clarification
:)
