Don

  You asked about taking the wiring one step further. To wire two machines
without a HUB.

The layout for the RJ45 is

Pin 1  T (tip)
Pin 2  R (ring)
Pin 3  T
Pin 4  R
Pin 5  T
Pin 6  R
Pin 7  T
Pin 8  R

Pair one is considered to be the center two (Pin 4 and 5)
Pair two is considered to be the next two out from center (Pin 3 and 6)
Pair three is Pins 1 and 2
Pair four is Pins 7 and 8

Networking uses pair two and pair three

So if you want to connect just two computers , simply flip pair two and
three (maintaining the T and R)

Hope this helps
Gordon
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