[rich82fox]

hi

I want to directly link my Mac Pro to my Powermac g4

do I specifically need a CROSSED ethernet cable - or will any ethernet cable do?

rich

[Sherman Homan]

Gigabit ethernet does not require crossover cables, both the G4 and the MacPro have 'em, so you should be good to go with a regular cable.

[ghporter]

For best results, you'll want a high-quality cable, preferably a Cat6 cable. It's not "required" to connect the two machines, but it will give the connection an extra level of immunity from noise.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

Gigabit ethernet does not require crossover cables

Auto MDI/MDI-X is optional, not mandatory, for 1000BASE-T (802.3ab); see clause 40.4.4 in IEEE 802.3-2005.

[Sherman Homan]

Right, that is why I said 'does not require", or am I missing your point?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

Right, that is why I said 'does not require", or am I missing your point?

He's trying to make the point that Auto MDI (the detection if a port is backwards and subsequent connection re-match) is not a requirement for Gigabit so in principal you go out and find a Gigabit port that doesn't do Auto MDI and in such a case you'd actually need a crossover cable.

That entire (pedantic) point is moot though because we are on a Mac board and all current Macs support Auto MDI. They have for quite a while actually. Furthermore the OP is trying to connect two Macs that support Auto MDI as well. So the OP definitely doesn't need a crossover cable (just like about 99.9% of the Mac users out there) and your advice was absolutely right.

[rich82fox]

FORGOT TO MENTION

I will also be networking my Mac Pro to my iBook G3 (clamshell)

will that require a crossover network cable?

rich

[ghporter]

No crossover needed-the Mac Pro has an "autosensing" Ethernet adapter which adjusts as needed.

[Simon]

Yep. That's exactly the point. Since the MP does Auto MDI it will adapt to whatever comes from the iBook regardless to the typ of Ethernet cable you use.