RJ-45 Connector Pin Assignments
55
10BASE-T Operation
10BASE-T is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 standard for
Ethernet signaling over unshielded twisted-pair wire at 10 Mbps.
Ethernet, as the most widely used network protocol, uses 10BASE-T as its primary cabling
scheme. Ethernet characteristics include a:
■
Data rate of 10 Mbps.
■
Broadcast architecture.
■
Specific media-access control (MAC) scheme.
The 10BASE-T name indicates a signaling speed of 10 Mbps and twisted-pair wiring.
Base
stands for baseband, which denotes a technique for transmitting signals as direct-current
pulses rather than modulating them onto separate carrier frequencies.
A wiring topology using 10BASE-T specifies a wiring hub, cable arranged in a star
configuration, and unshielded twisted-pair cable. Each node has a separate cable run that
must not exceed 100 meters (328 ft) from the node to the hub.
100BASE-TX Operation
100BASE-TX is the IEEE 802.3u standard for Fast Ethernet signaling over Category 5 UTP
or STP wire at 100 Mbps.
Based on an extension to the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet specification, Fast Ethernet
characteristics include a:
■
Data rate of 100 Mbps.
■
Broadcast architecture.
■
Specific media-access control (MAC) scheme.
A wiring topology using 100BASE-TX specifies a wiring hub, cable arranged in a star
configuration, and Category 5 UTP or STP wiring. Each node has a separate cable run that
must not exceed 100 meters (328 ft) from the node to the hub.
RJ-45 Connector Pin Assignments
The following illustration shows the RJ-45 connector pin assignments for the EtherLink
PCI NICs.
TX D
ATA
ACT
10
100
L
N
K
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
TD+
TD_
RD_
RD+
