Comments on: What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate http://barking.roaddog.com/2006/02/09/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-communicate.html Damage done from nearly three decades in the roadie biz Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:25:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Andy Peters http://barking.roaddog.com/2006/02/09/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-communicate.html/comment-page-1#comment-225 Andy Peters Tue, 14 Feb 2006 19:05:39 +0000 http://barking.roaddog.com/?p=225#comment-225 My first comment is simply: if they can't get an RS-232 connection right (IOW: why is a null modem cable needed??), how can they be expected to get Ethernet working? Second: 100-BaseT is probably fine for device control, although the cost of GB interface components is dropping all the time. A gigabit switch does a nice job of isolating 100-BaseT from the 1000-BaseT "backbone." Third: USB is wrong for anything that may not live withing 15 meters of a host computer. Hacks such as USB-to-Cat5 converters are expensive and unreliable. Fourth: Do fiber. It should be cheap. The GB controllers talk to fiber or copper. Just use the appropriate PHY and connector hardware. None of this is rocket science. Just be careful with the connectors. Maybe none of the big audio players wanted to sign Broadcom's NDA? My first comment is simply: if they can’t get an RS-232 connection right (IOW: why is a null modem cable needed??), how can they be expected to get Ethernet working?

Second: 100-BaseT is probably fine for device control, although the cost of GB interface components is dropping all the time. A gigabit switch does a nice job of isolating 100-BaseT from the 1000-BaseT “backbone.”

Third: USB is wrong for anything that may not live withing 15 meters of a host computer. Hacks such as USB-to-Cat5 converters are expensive and unreliable.

Fourth: Do fiber. It should be cheap. The GB controllers talk to fiber or copper. Just use the appropriate PHY and connector hardware. None of this is rocket science. Just be careful with the connectors.

Maybe none of the big audio players wanted to sign Broadcom’s NDA?

]]> By: John Sibley http://barking.roaddog.com/2006/02/09/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-communicate.html/comment-page-1#comment-224 John Sibley Fri, 10 Feb 2006 22:10:39 +0000 http://barking.roaddog.com/?p=225#comment-224 Sorta-kinda-on the same short bus... as UTP becomes more and more ubiquitous for audio-related interconnects, I am reminded on a daily basis that the RJ connector was really not designed to be abused like this. The ethercon variant is a good first step, but more hardware manufacturers need to adopt it, because adapting is a royal pain in the butt. Sorta-kinda-on the same short bus… as UTP becomes more and more ubiquitous for audio-related interconnects, I am reminded on a daily basis that the RJ connector was really not designed to be abused like this. The ethercon variant is a good first step, but more hardware manufacturers need to adopt it, because adapting is a royal pain in the butt.

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