Ethernet is a family of frame-based computer Network technologies for local area networks (LANs). The name comes from the physical concept of the ether. Network Interface Cards (NICs), such as 3Com and others, can be found for varying different networks. The most common is Ethernet (in various flavors) Token Ring and Arcnet. NICs are most commonly available for PCI, but older ISA cards may still be available. Most recent PCs have network interfaces built onto the motherboard. Laptops typically also support wireless networking, or WiFi. An Ethernet connection is the easiest method of using ADSL via a Modem or router. Though it may be possible to use a USB driver it would be more difficult. If you choose ethernet, you will need a supported driver, such as Crynwr, ODI or NDIS. The most common protocol is TCP/IP, but many networks also support IPX/SPX. To share data with other systems, you will need NFS or CIFS.
Copyright © 2007 Ulrich Hansen, Mainz (Germany), updated 2010 by W.Spiegl. For more information see here. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License 1.2".