"Plug two computers into each other with a network cable and staticly configure the IP addresses" should not be a novel or notable enough idea to trend on HN! This is boggling.
I thought what made the article special was the use of a "patch" cable but the network cards should be able to negotiate anyway, I was very confused about what was the notable thing.
Auto-MDI/X (auto-crossover) was codified in IEEE 802.3ab-1999, the specifcation for gigE, 27 years ago
And it's even been supported really well for almost as long.