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Ethernet over USB 3
- Thread starter rueyloon
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Hmm interesting, so what's the special sauce that apple made it possible over firewire and thunderbolt, but not under USB?
As far as I know, you can still use IP over Thunderbolt with TB3 - connect two Macs with a USB-C cable, select Thunderbolt Bridge in System Preferences, enable IP... https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25217 9to5Mac has a video demonstrating it with USB-C-equipped MBPs.
I think the original question was a bit unclear. Personally, I wouldn't consider directly connecting two computers to be "creating a network."
I think the original question was a bit unclear. Personally, I wouldn't consider directly connecting two computers to be "creating a network."
Raz0rEdge
macrumors member
Correct, you can do IP over USB as long as you are hard connecting two devices together. For example, you would connect a phone to your Mac and use it as a IP tether to get to the Internet...
But if you wanted to plug in regular Ethernet cable to a Mac, that's a different story. I used a Ethernet-to-TB dongle that allowed me to plug in a Ethernet cable. In that case this no different than the various dongles out there that to USB-C to HDMI/DVI/SD or whatever..
Regards
But if you wanted to plug in regular Ethernet cable to a Mac, that's a different story. I used a Ethernet-to-TB dongle that allowed me to plug in a Ethernet cable. In that case this no different than the various dongles out there that to USB-C to HDMI/DVI/SD or whatever..
Regards
Firewire and Thunderbolt are directly connected to PCIe (it's like an external PCIe slot) and can be used for almost anything, USB can only "emulate" most ports with an adapter/dock/hub.
Now with 3.1 I think Displayport is the only native supported standard.
It's just for simple file sharing at home. A network over USB3 would be faster than over ethernet.
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ok, probably invest in a cable to try it out. Hope to get faster speed than ethernet for simple file sharing at home.
ActionableMango
macrumors G3
USB ports are, generally speaking, designed to act as either a host (computer) or a device (printer, hard drive, etc)*. There is a different shape connector at each end of a USB cable to ensure that hosts only connect to devices and that devices only connect to hosts. A host USB port is not designed to work with another host USB port. This is why you don't see USB to USB networks.
If both computers are Mac Pros, you can connect two Ethernet cables and use NIC bonding to double your bandwidth.
* There are some common exceptions to this such as a USB OTG port on a smartphone. And those can actually work as host, device, or peer to peer, but that is a different context entirely.
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Also worth noting that the 1GbE Standard is auto MDX, so no concerns are needed for a straight vs crossover cable when connecting NIC to NIC.