I have a roll of 1000 feet of Cat-5 network cable & a bag of ends, so whenever I need a cable I can make one. I think I got the roll for $50 long ago, and the bag of ends & a crimper are $10 to $15 on ebay. Sure beats paying 10 to 50 bucks for a freakin' "High Speed Tested La De Da Cable" at the computer shop. Tested? What? Build it. If it works, there you go. If not, ya screwed up. There's your test.

But I always forget which wires go where for a straight or crossover cable... So I stole these pics from somewhere and put them here where I could find them easily.

Need 'em? Use 'em.

Note: Crossover cables connect 2 computers together without the help of a switch or router. If you're gonna connect more than 2 machines, you need that switch or router or whatever. You can buy one, like the little linksys box I'm using now, or make one outta an old hoopty, some spare network cards, (nic's) and a floppy of Freesco. I have the intention of buildin' a Freesco box and have all the parts save the damn 3.5 inch floppy drive. I think I have a disk or 2 laying around, but.... Damned if I can find them.
I tried burning the install files to a cd and loading it up that way, but it needs to write to the disk at some point... WHen it tried that all it's marbles fell on the floor and ran everywhere... A halt was the result.
So maybe when I finally get my Freesco box up and running I'll tell you about it. And maybe not.

Cat-5 straight through cable pinout:

Cat-5 crossover cable pinout: