Setting up a PC client on an Ion

I'd like to agree with Aaron, adding the switch does just add something else that could go wrong/get unplugged etc.

When using Nomads on a Mac I just run a very long standard ethernet cable straight out of it to an artnet to dmx box at the stage with fixed IPs at each end and no switch and never had any issues.

Ten years ago I agree it wouldn't have worked as autosensing was quite new and so you might have needed a cross over cable etc, but if the machines are more current than that it should work.

In our case, an ETC Element (XP motherboard) and a ThinkPad, running Nomad, this combination is very sensitive to start up times. If I don't start them at the same time (wihtin a couple of minutes) I usually will have to restart the Element to get them to connect. A small, unmanaged switch is about $50 ? so no big deal really.

From the hundreds of calls that I have attended to here at ETC Support where customers had issues connecting two devices with a network cable, at least 90% of the time, adding an unmanaged switch between the two devices solved the problems they had. So - here the old adage that adding another device adds one more possible problem Point that could get unplugged doesn't fit the statistics.

It's a good practice to gaff-tape together and/or tie off all power connections that are "mission-critical."

Salazar said:

A small, unmanaged switch is about $50 ? so no big deal really.