Link extender having equalization circuitry

1. An apparatus comprising:

a receptacle to couple the apparatus to a host connection;

a plug to couple the apparatus to a display connection;

link extender circuitry coupled to the receptacle and the plug, the link extender circuitry including:

equalization circuitry coupled to the receptacle to restore voltage levels on signals received from the host connection at the receptacle;

differential signaling receive circuitry coupled to the equalization circuitry; and

differential signaling transmit circuitry coupled to and located between the differential signaling receive circuitry and the plug.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plug comprises an M1-D plug.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the receptacle comprises an M1-DA receptacle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the equalization circuitry is adapted to dynamically restore voltage levels based at least in part on the signals received from the host connection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the differential signal receive circuitry comprises a transition minimized differential signal (TDMS) receive circuitry, and the equalization circuitry and the TMDS receiver circuitry comprises a Gennum GS8000 DVI extender.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the receptacle comprises a plurality of Register Jack-45 (RJ-45) receptacles.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a first plug to couple the apparatus to a host connection;

a second plug to couple the apparatus to a display connection;

a metallic transmission medium coupled to the first plug; and

link extender circuitry coupled to the metallic transmission medium and the second plug, the link extender circuitry including:

equalization circuitry coupled to the metallic transmission medium to restore voltage levels on signals transmitted on the metallic transmission medium;

differential signaling receive circuitry coupled to the equalization circuitry; and

differential signaling transmit circuitry coupled to and located between the differential signaling receive circuitry and the second plug.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the second plug comprises an M1-D plug.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the link extender circuitry further comprises a direct current to direct current converter coupled to a voltage supply pin of the M1-D plug.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the equalization circuitry is adapted to dynamically restore voltage levels based at least in part on the signals received from the host connection.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the equalization circuitry and the TMDS receiver circuitry comprises a Gennum GS8000 DVI extender.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the metallic transmission medium comprises a plurality of metallic traces capable of carry signals compatible with the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) standard.

13. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the metallic transmission medium comprises a plurality of metallic traces capable of carry signals compatible with the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard.

14. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the metallic transmission medium comprises two pluralities of metallic traces correspondingly coupled to two Register Jack-45 (RJ-45) plugs.

15. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the differential signal receive circuitry comprises a transition minimized differential signal receive circuitry, and the differential signal transmit circuitry comprises a transition minimized differential signal transmit circuitry.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the differential signaling receive circuitry and the differential signaling transmit circuitry operate on voltage restored signals from the equalization circuitry.

17. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the differential signaling receive circuitry and the differential signaling transmit circuitry operate on voltage restored signals from the equalization circuitry.