What is the difference between a cross cable and a straight cable

[Flamboyant]

Hi All,

What is the difference between a cross cable and a straight cable. Which should I use when?

If I need a direct connection from my laptop to my cRIO/PXI controller which cable should I use?

If my Laptop and cRIO/PXI controller is on a network what kind of cable should I use.

Regards,

Cooldude 

[TCPlomp]

A cross cable has some pairs of wires switched internally to connect two ethernet interfaces directly without a hub or switch.

Most modern computers (post 2000) are able to detect if a cross cable should be used and can swith the pairs themselves.

Basically if you get a bad connection (one of the cables is disconnected) you need the other kind of cable.

Here is some more info (wikipedia)

Ton

[Ben]

One note to add to Ton's post.

When uisng a cross-over cable to directly link to nodes, there will not be a node (router etc) to hand out IP addresses so make sure your ports are configured for static IP address.

Ben

[Shreyas]

To connect your laptop directly to the controller use a CROSS cable

To connect your laptop when the CRIo is over the network(LAN) then use a straight cable.

U can identify whether the cable is crossed or straight just by looking at the ends.. if the wires are actually crossed or not.