From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 12:25:44 +0800
To: Cerridwyn Llewyellyn <ceridwyn@wolfenet.com>
Subject: Bare fibers
Message-ID: <199607200153.SAA18305@mail.pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 05:32 PM 7/18/96 -0700, Cerridwyn Llewyellyn wrote:
>
>>a (hidden) drive to your computer using a reasonably surreptious link that 
>>is difficult to trace.  Say, an IR optical link, a single bare (unjacketed) 
>>optical fiber, a LAN with hidden nodes, or a similar system.  Maybe an 
>
>I find the idea of the optical fiber very interesting.  Is there such
>a beast currently available?  I really don't know anything about fiber,
>and therefore it would be very difficult for me to construct such a
>system myself...

Unjacketed fiber exists, but since its primary use is to build up jacketed 
fibers and fiber bundles, it is rarely seen in industry outside of the 
companies which normally use it.  But it is available.  The fiber is usually 
coated with a very thin layer of clear plastic to protect against moisture 
and abrasion, and the diameter  is around 0.5 to 1.0 millimeters in diameter.  

Terminating fiber is specialized; it is cleaved using diamond tools, and is 
usually polished after mounting in a holder.  These days, transmitters and 
receivers are easily available.  For a relatively short run, plastic fibers 
would probably be the best bet.

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com