The document discusses the basics of a Network Interface Card (NIC). It explains that a NIC is a hardware device that installs in a computer to provide an interface between the computer and a network transmission medium like Ethernet. It converts parallel data from the computer bus to serial signals for transmission and vice versa. When installing a NIC, the operating system must be configured to communicate with the NIC by setting resources like the IRQ, I/O port address, and MAC address.

1. The Basics
By:-
TUBA FALAK

2.  The NIC is a Hardware device that installs in a
pc.
 It provide an interface from pc to the
Transmission media.
 Most pc networks for EX- Ethernet, Token Ring
& ARCNet use NIC.
 A NIC links a Computer with the Network
cabling system.
 The NIC fits into one of the PC’s Expansion
Slots.

3.  The card has one or more user accessible ports
to which the network cabling medium is
connected.
 The NIC’s are responsible for Translating data
from a device on the network & converting this
data into some form of signals that can be
Transmitted across the Transmission media.
 All Network Interface Cards perform the
function of Preparing & sending data.

4.  This data ,when it is inside the Computer
,Travels in parallel from on the Bus.
 This data can moves at 8,16 or 32 bits at a
time.
 The NIC must convert these signals into a Serial
signals that can travels across the transmission
medium.
 When data is received , this serial form of data
must be converted into parallel form for
matching the bus type of the Computer.


5.  The mechanism of this data conversion is
handled in two ways :
 1) When data is coming from the
computer to send out on the network,
the NIC driver or software is responsible
for converting this data into the format
that can be understood by NIC.
 2) the second part of data conversion is
perform by physical NIC itself.
 In NIC card data is converted into a serial
format using either digital, analog or
light signals.

6.  The details of how to install NIC might
depend on the Nic Card, Operating System or
a hardware platform.
 But some Basic Steps are some.
 The following are steps to install NIC :
 1) Plug the card into Expansion Slots,
Configure Jumpers & DIP switches as required.
 2) Install NIC driver Or software.
 3) configure the O.S so that the NIC doesn't
conflict with other devices.

7.  4) Bind NIC to the required Protocol.
 5) Attach the network cable to the card.
 The NIC is Plug n Play hardware device , O.S
itself asked the further process of using NIC
when it is plugged.


8.  The O.S must configure so that it can
communicate with NIC.
 In many cases, you must manually configure
the NIC.
 These settings are configured through Jumpers
or DIP switch settings or by using some form of
software.
 To communicate the O.S & NIC they must agree
on certain important parameters called
resource setting.

9.  Some common resource setting for NIC are as
follows :
 1) IRQ
 2) Base IO port address
 3) Base memory address
 4)DMA channel
 5) Boot PROM
 6) MAC address
 7) Ring Speed (Token Ring Cards)
 8) Connector Type

10.  1) IRQ :
 The IRQ (Interrupt Request Line) setting
reserves a IRQ for the NIC to use when
contacting the CPU.
 Devices makes a request to CPU using a
signal called an interrupt.
 2) Base I/O Port Address :
 Base I/O Port Address defines a memory
address through which data flows to & from
the NIC.
 Base I/O Port Address function like a port & it
defines a channel between Processor & NIC.

11.  3) Base memory address :
 Base memory address is the place in the
computers memory that indicate the beginning
of Buffers area reserved for NIC.
 All NIC cards use computers RAM, therefore not
all NIC requires Base memory address settings.
 4)DMA channel :
 DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel is an
address used for quicker access to the CPU by
the NIC.

12.  5) Boot PROM :
 Some NIC cards are equipped with Boot
PROM.
 This Boot PROM enables the NIC to Boot Up
& connect over the network.
 This feature is often used by diskless
workstations because they don’t have hard
drives to store connection software.
 6) MAC address :
 The IEEE is responsible for assigning these
address to each NIC during manufacturing.
 In some cases you can reassign a new MAC
address for NIC.

13.  7) Ring Speed (Token Ring Cards) :
 In Token Ring networks the ring speed must be
set on the token ring card.
 The possible values for this are either 4 Mbps or
16 Mbps.
 8) Connector Type :
 Some network cards have different connectors
from which you can choose.
 A common example is an Ethernet card with
both a BNC connector & RJ45.