I understand that RS485 is a physical layer specification that,
according to one of Olin's posts is a "recommended standard" for
nothing more than the physical/electrical specifications of the
system. What's now confusing to me is what CAN is. I know that it is
at least a protocol, but is it anything more? Does it specify the
physical layer like RS485 does? The Wikipedia article on CAN is a bit
too difficult to understand for me at this stage. If anyone could put
it in simpler terms, I would greatly appreciate it.

How similar is the CAN bus physical layer specification to the RS485
specification?

How many lines does the CAN bus usually use?

Can the bus lines from my CAN transceiver module be directly connected
to the twisted pair wires in a CAT3 or CAT5 cable and to other CAN
devices?

What is "termination" (tried to google for it and got unexpected
results :P) and does the CAN bus need it?

I'm thinking of making a simple PCB in the style of an ethernet switch
that will simply have a few RJ11 or RJ45 connectors connected to each
other. Nothing more, nothing less. Is this a good idea?

-- [ solarwind ] -- http://solar-blogg.blogspot.com/
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