Chapter 10. Connectors

Have you ever wired a cable directly into a piece of hardware? Some equipment in years past provided terminals or termination blocks so that cable could be wired directly into a direct component. In modern times, this approach is considered bad; it is fundamentally against the precepts of a structured cabling system to attach directly to active electronic components, either at the workstation or in the equipment closet. On the ends of the cable you install, something must provide access and transition for attachment to system electronics. Thus, you have connectors.

Connectors generally have a male component and a female component, except in the case of hermaphroditic connectors such as the IBM data connector. Usually jacks ...

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