[svlug] help transfering data over 1394 cable

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Daniel Gimpelevich (daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us):

> I just checked the websites of Fry's, Walmart, Central Computer, Circuit
> City, Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Best Buy, and price-wise, I
> see a trip to 13th and Harrison in your near future:
> 
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7907704&type=product&id=1149206843192

Seems like a (small) waste of money, to me, if all he wants to do is a
one-time data transfer between two boxes.  I'm wondering if he ever
tried simply stretching a regular ethernet cable between the boxes,
IP'ing them appropriately, and checking (e.g., with ping) whether he
gets connectivity.  Many if not most recent-production ethernet
circuitry autosenses MDI or MDI-X mode, so one patch cable, which
Christian surely already has, is cheaper and more convenient -- and also
faster, and a less gratuitously overcomplicated solution -- than are two
cables plus a gigabit switch.

And if neither interface does MDI/MDI-X autosensing aka "unversal cable
recognition", it's _still_ a lot cheaper (and, again, gives better
performance) to buy or make a simple crossover cable than to go buy an
(essentially) superfluous[1] gigabit ethernet switch.

[1] Occasionally, a pair of ethernet interfaces turn out to be unable to
talk directly, needing a hub or switch as buffer.  However, that's rare,
and I'd sure want to try one regular and one crossover cable _first_.
(OTOH, hey, it's only $35 plus tax.)