Network card or network adapter - is an expansion card that is inserted into the slot of the motherboard (main board) computer. There are also standard network adapters for notebukov PCMCIA (notebook), they are inserted into the slot on the housing notebuka. Or integrated on the motherboard of the computer, they are connected to any local bus. There Ethernet network cards connected to the USB (Universal Serial Bus) port.
Network adapters are characterized by their
Length: 8 bits (the oldest), 16 bits and 32 bits. Should expect 64-bit NIC (if not released).
Data bus, on which there is an exchange of information between the motherboard and network card: ISA, EISA, VL-Bus, PCI, etc.
Controller chip or chip (Chip, chipset), on which this board is manufactured. And to identify the type of compatible drivers and just about everything else: the bit, bus type, etc.
Supported network transmission medium (network media), in Russian saying the video card connectors to connect to a specific network cable. BNC for 10Base-2, RJ45 network for 10Base-T and 100Base-TX, AUI for 10Base-5 or connectors for fiber optics.
Operating speed: Ethernet 10Mbit and / or Fast Ethernet 100Mbit, Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base-...
Also, maps to twisted-pair may or may not support FullDuplex-state regime of work.
MAC-address
For determining the destination of the packets (frames) in an Ethernet network using MAC-address. This is a unique serial number assigned to each Ethernet network device to identify it on the network. MAC-address is assigned to the adapter by its manufacturer, but can be changed by the program. This is not recommended (only in case of the two devices in a network with a MAC-address). When working NICs view all passing network traffic and look in each packet a MAC-address. If one is found, the ustroysva (adapter) decodes the packet. There are also special ways of distributing packets to all devices on the same network (broadcasting). MAC-address is 6 bytes and is usually written in hexadecimal, eg
12:34:56:78:90: AB
Colon may be absent, but their presence makes the number easier to read. Each manufacturer assigns an address from the address range belonging to him. The first three bytes of the address specified by the manufacturer.
When you select a network adapter should take into account the following considerations.
Type of the data bus, installed on your computer (ISA, VESA, PCI or some other). Old computers 286, 386 contain only ISA, respectively, and the card can only be installed on the bus ISA. 486 - ISA and VESA or ISA and PCI (although there are boards that support all three - ISA, VESA, and PCI). You can find this out by looking in the description or look at the motherboard itself, after you open the computer case. You can install a network card in any appropriate free slot. Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium-2, and the like using the ISA and PCI data bus, and the bus ISA - for compatibility with older cards.
There is another fairly strong arguments - the bus ISA, most likely will be gradually supplanted by bus PCI. But it will happen, probably in a couple of years when your card is probably cheaper to put in a museum.
The type of network to which you will connect. If, for example, you will connect to the network on coaxial cable (10Base-2, the "thin" Ethernet), then you need a network card with the appropriate connector (BNC).
Its cost, given that the price of the most advanced computer equipment falls very quickly. A damaged network card, under adverse circumstances, can very easily no matter how much money you paid for it.
On the other hand, the performance and reliability of a completely "no-name" adapters are usually worse than the cards issued by well-known companies.
Still need to take into account the support of your adapter and operating systems. If compatible, such as the NE2000 ISA adapter problems usually do not occur, you simply specify "NE2000 Compatible" without thinking which company manufactured it. There are a number of adapters, which support is provided in almost all operating systems. To check which network card supported by your operating system you have to look at "Compatibility List". Often in such a list was the chip, buyout supported, ie if you purchase a network adapter made based on this chip, then it will work.
From the use of some network cards have to give up, because no one wants to release a driver for this particular card, just for this operating system. This is a little like using a printer, if the driver is under your OS - you can buy, if the driver is not present - no hope. It is true if you always use Windows, problems with finding drivers usually do not occur.
Based on the above, I personally (nothing anyone advise) to the following principles when choosing a card.
If a bit of money and speed is not important, then any ISA NE2000 compatible adapter.
In all other cases, the savings in consequence lead to problems.
Network card or network adapter - is an expansion card that is inserted into the slot of the motherboard (main board) computer. There are also standard network adapters for notebukov PCMCIA (notebook), they are inserted into the slot on the housing notebuka. Or integrated on the motherboard of the computer, they are connected to any local bus. There Ethernet network cards connected to the USB (Universal Serial Bus) port.
