DIY USB Extension Cables Using Cat5/6?

TheDarkRogue asks: "Ok, I have a small USB device that I need to position a distance from my computer, more then the cable, at least 30 feet. The thing is that I don't think it can go that far very well. I looked around for a solution and found a few products I could get for a price way out of my price range, so now I'm looking at this as a doit-myselfer. How can I extend the distance using Cat5/6? Does anyone know of any schematics for something or is that in its self more then is needed?" Extending a USB cable to this length (or more) can't be this easy, can it? What's the maximum length of USB cabling one can get in a single stretch?

Comments

Re:"For a low speed device the limit is 3 meters."

[evilviper]

Ethernet and FireWire are examples of properly designed computer communication interfaces. They are trouble free.

Quite right... What people don't usually realize is that FireWire is just a form of serial SCSI, meaning you should probably be saying 'Ethernet and SCSI'. The same is true of FiberChannel, Serial SCSI, and perhaps even standard parallel SCSI.

<rant>
If you think about it, manufactures NOT putting Firewire in their systems makes a good deal of sense. IDE is used rather than SCSI, so USB would be used rather than Firewire. It just makes sense.
</rant>

I have two complaints.
1. SCSI standards are too divergent. If they could just come together and make one controller that does Serial SCSI, Fiber Channel, and Firewire, all three would get quite a boost from the others.
2. Not enough devices support Firewire and Ethernet. I was looking at laser printers recently, and only the extremely hi-priced ones have NICs. (A 100Mbps Linksys NIC can be had for $5, so I don't see the problem) Perhaps more manufacturers should make their devices (printer, scanner, camera, et al) modular. That would be the best way to encourage easy interface upgrades (buy a new module, not a whole new device)