|> > 
|> > I realize this is a bad idea, but in my application I think 
|> > it will be Good Enough(tm).  In my fiancee's apartment I have 
|> > a Cat5 cable running from the living room to the geek lounge. 
|> >  The cable modem is in the living room because there's no 
|> > cable TV connectors in any other room.  I now want to put a 
|> > WebTV type component into the entertainment center but it 
|> > needs to be inside the firewall.  Is there such thing as a Y 
|> > adapter that I could split 1 Cat5 run into 2 ethernet lines?  
|> > Yes, I realize it would break the standard but seeing as how 
|> > one line is connecting to my cable modem (2 Mb/sec max) and 
|> > the other will be 10 Mb/s, it should work.  Does anybody sell 
|> > these or is this just a dumb idea and I should have no 
|> > business trying?
|>
|> I don't think you can do this.  You need to buy a hub or a 
|switch.  Ethernet
|> is not like phone wiring.
|
|Not entirely true. You most certainly can split 10baseT Ethernet 
|over Cat 5 
|by using 4 wires per end. But "can" does not imply "should" and you'll be
|a network administrator in one of the deeper circles of Hell if you do. 
|
As an adminstrator who inherited a network wired this way, I heartily agree!