On December 10, at the 38th Chaos Communication Congress (38C3, essentially a German technical conference for various hackers and other community members), hacker Benjoho explained how he successfully pushed Toslink traffic, usually limited to 10 meters, over a distance of 143 kilometers. Then, yesterday, fellow hacker Manavirm demonstrated the IP via Toslink, based on what that demo proved. [h/t Hackaday]. The speeds… aren’t that incredible since this cable isn’t designed for that, but the fact that it’s even possible is still cool.
So what made all this possible? Benjojo uploaded the full text version of his speech at the 38C3 conference to his blogincluding full technical information on how Toslink traveled such an unreasonable 140+ kilometers. The move, apparently an attempt to learn more about optical data transmission, involved more than just sending unconventional data. Toslink is typically limited to just 10 meters in length, but was eventually tested and extended to 143.2 kilometers, although this required many separate fixtures and data center involvement.
Benjojo has proven that optical data transmission is impressive, and its complex rules remain valid even when limited to legacy technologies such as the Toslink optical system. audio cable. However, for the average user, Toslink cables are impractical for use as a fiber network cable of last resort, especially when speeds are limited to approximately 1536 kbps or only 0.19 MB/s.
Meanwhile, Manavirm’s IP address, obtained after the Toslink hack, details about her KittenLabs the page reflects the actual IP transfer speed of about 1.47 Mbps or 0.18 MB/s. This isn’t quite Toslink’s maximum limit (about 3%), but it’s probably as close to what we’re getting.
Manawyrm and Benjojo proved that most optical data cables operate in much the same way. With the right settings, specially designed cables such as Toslink can be extended to distances and formats beyond what their creators could ever imagine.
There is a lot of beauty in this, and the technical expertise required to make it happen speaks volumes about the determination required to push the technology to its limits. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it’s still a Toslink cable, so it has no practical use beyond what Benjojo and Manawyrm learned by pushing Toslink to its limits. Real network cables aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.