oberon |
01-29-2004 09:42 AM |
It refers to the media used for communications, i.e. the cable. In ethernet over twisted pair (Category 3/5/5E/6), the order in which the twisted pair is crimped matters. There are (at least) two different standards, namely "straight" (or "patch") and "crossover" twisted pair cables. In the old days (at least), patch cables were used between switches and endpoints (i.e. desktop computers or servers) and crossover cables were used between switches.
Auto-MDI(X) refers to the ability to detect which type of cable is plugged in and automatically change the signalling patterns to match.
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