Hee. Yes, it is. I will.

But...does that mean I just hook up the router to one spot, and the rest of them are thus hooked up? Is it like having a lot of long ethernet cables already hooked together? I don't quite grok--there is a "smart panel" in the master bedroom closet but AFAIcan tell it's not....smart. Or special. Other than being the terminus of all the cables. I'm hoping that doesn't mean THAT needs to be where the router/whatever needs to go? (It's also where all the cable TV cables end up, it seems).

Okay, this is the thing. What you have there is what I plan to wire up in my house. yes, it is a centralized point, but its a place where I would put a 10/100 hub (or better) so that all Ethernet jacks in the house would be equal.

Then place your wireless point (modem or a firewall/router) in the best spot for you, and hook it's internal LAN port up to the Ethernet jack in that room. If you set up the wireless device to allow DHCP on the LAN side, then any PC or IP-networked device can be configured to use the internet.

Very useful if any particular room in the house has bad Wireless connectivity.

Another completely different way to use that panel is to route connectivity from one room to another. Similar to the plan above, is the use of a single patch cable to have the internet come in from one room, and plug the cable form that socket in the closet to the socket for the room you are going to use for now. That's basically what yo are doing with a hub, but it's a one at a time deal, rather than a more convenient always-on of the hub.

The hub scenario also gives the future promise of IP telephony, but that's madness. Madness I tell you!

That's right. We have a smart panel in my closet (okay, my office closet so it makes marginally more sense.) and that's how I have it wired. I have the hub and router both in there, though I could have put the router elsewhere. And everything else that I have is just plugged in where I need it. So, like, the printers are ethernet even though they could go wireless.

My cable also all terminates there, but I can plug in wherever I want to. I was cheap and didn't pay for the doohickey that would connect all my cables to all my other cables, so that means I manually switch which incoming lines (from the satellite) are hooked to which outlets (to the tivo) whenever I want to move stuff around, which isn't too often.

Then my audio all comes in there, too. And it is wired into my amp & receiver which live in the closet. So I can route the XM or the output from my computer or whatever to any of the ceiling speakers in any room. Then I can control the volume of the speakers in the room itself by the volume dial on the wall.

I love it.

Technically my POTS lines come into the panel too, but since I don't actually have phone service at this house, it just ends in a little phone cable dangling sadly outside the house.

Noted from iFixit.com on the upcoming iPad:

According the FCC filing, the version that includes 3G will be model A1337.

Heh.

Hmm. Putting a hub in my closet is...annoying (also, the smart panel is closed up, so I don't quite get how that will work. I will have to play with this. Or maybe just get Liese to come visit! That sounds like the BEST plan!)

This is also a good plan! I could totally hook you up.

My smart panel has a cover screwed to the wall, too. I used to painstakingly unscrew it and replace it, but I got sick of it and now it's just open. If I had it to do over again, I'd have gotten a different kind of cover.

BUT! There are hubs you can get that can mount inside the panel, so it might be something you don't have to look at or deal with at all once it's done.

Or maybe just get Liese to come visit! That sounds like the BEST plan!)

Indeed.

Okay, so I finally upgraded my main OSX machine to Leopard.

No intel processor, so now snow for me.

OTOH? Time machine.

I'm posting from the Apple Store on an iPad. The keyboard is better than i thought