Why can't we emulate Fluke network testers on a laptop?

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yoimdumbsry

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Nov 29, 2016
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Seriously.. it seems like it would be easy enough to do.. everyone just recommends 'spend the money and buy something nice' but when you only have one in an office team of 4-5 and people keep taking it, why not just use your laptop as a network tester? both have an Ethernet port and display screen.. what am i missing?
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The problem is the computer has a ethernet port and the fluke has a something else that just happens to use the same rj45 connection. The chip that runs the ethernet port in a pc only has a single purpose. Hard to say what is in the fluke since that is their trade secret stuff.

I do not know enough about the chips that run ethernet in a pc to know how programmable they are. Some ethernet ports in pc have basic test abilities that can for example tell you how long a cable it. In any case these are the drivers you load. You would somehow have to obtain software that lets you write your own software drivers for the ethernet chip. Since almost all drivers come directly from the chipset manufacture I don't know if you can even get...
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BuddhaSkoota

BuddhaSkoota

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Aug 16, 2014
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Network interface controllers (i.e. Ethernet ports) on computers are very simple in function (moving data over a network) and do not have the capability to test individual wires for opens or shorts, transpositions, cable length, continuity, etc.

While the computer itself is very powerful, the NIC is only capable of a singular job.
 
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yoimdumbsry

Commendable
Nov 29, 2016
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I guess it wouldn't be possible to have a multiplex Ethernet port to USB sort of adapter either? Kind of like the PC board jsmith is referring to?
thank you for the answers!
 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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The problem is the computer has a ethernet port and the fluke has a something else that just happens to use the same rj45 connection. The chip that runs the ethernet port in a pc only has a single purpose. Hard to say what is in the fluke since that is their trade secret stuff.

I do not know enough about the chips that run ethernet in a pc to know how programmable they are. Some ethernet ports in pc have basic test abilities that can for example tell you how long a cable it. In any case these are the drivers you load. You would somehow have to obtain software that lets you write your own software drivers for the ethernet chip. Since almost all drivers come directly from the chipset manufacture I don't know if you can even get them.

The fluke is doing things like sending analog wave patterns over various pairs of wires looking for interference and reflections of the signal. I suspect this is not something the generics ethernet chips can even do.

I suspect the best reason that it is not likely possible is if it was that simple some Chinese company would have cheap knock off on the market. Since even non fluke brands cost a huge amount of money it has to be related to the cost of the actual technology to do this and not some software.
 
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