(Picture of Packet driver)
Packet drivers work as an interface between the hardware (the network
interface card) and the TCP/IP Kernel (which is also called "protocol
stack"). One sort of TCP/IP Kernels work as an external program that
can be called and used by various network applications. Other TCP/IP
Kernels are already built into network applications, a web browser for
instance or a ftp-client. We will learn more about these kernels
a bit further in this wiki.
Most of us will use the packet driver for TCP/IP networking. And
that's it. But packet drivers are multiprotocol drivers - so TCP/IP
isn't the only kernel that can work atop of it. As you can see in the
figure above (in the dark gray fields), it is also possible to run
Novell NetWare over of a packet driver: Specialized drivers like
IPXPD.COM or PDIPX.COM support IPX over the packet driver interface.
The NetBEUI protocol can't be used on top of a packet driver though,
as the packet driver interface is too different from NDIS.
The first place to look for a packet driver should be the installation
medium that came with your card. Packet drivers often have the letters
"PD" in their names, so the packet driver of a 3Com 3C589 PC-Card is
called "3C589PD.COM" and the driver of the D-Link DFE-670TXD PC-Card
is called "DFE670PD.COM". Look for a directory "PKTDRV" on the CD or
floppy that came with your card.
If there is no such driver on your installation medium or you don't
have any, try searching the web. For ISA and PCI network cards there
is a chance a packet driver can be found at Russell Nelson's Crynwr
website (see: http://www.crynwr.com/project (*01)) - a resource of
public domain packet drivers. PCMCIA drivers seem to be rare there,
though.
Georg Potthast provides a collection of PCI card packet drivers (see:
http://www.georgpotthast.de/sioux/packet.htm (*02)) and a tool called
NICSCAN.EXE (see: http://www.georgpotthast.de/sioux/pktdrv/nicscan.zip
(*03)) to determine the chipset of PCI network cards. He made the
experience that packet drivers are often the same for a large number
of models by the same manufacturer, so he recommends not to try
finding a packet driver specific for your model number.
To install a packet driver, add a line like this to your AUTOEXEC.BAT
(example for the 3c589 PCMCIA card):
LH 3C589PD.COM 0x60 5 0x300
In the example above the driver is loaded into high memory by using the
command "LH". The first option ("0x60") sets the software interrupt
(vector) used by the driver. The most frequently used packet driver
software interrupt number is 0x60. The second option ("5") sets the
IRQ, the third option ("0x300") sets the I/O port. Some drivers only
need the vector and find the other values by themselves. Most packet
drivers can be unloaded after use with the option "-u".
That's all. You don't need any other driver (ODI or NDIS). After
successfully installing a packet driver, you can now install your
TCP/IP applications with an internal kernel (WatTCP) or install an
external TCP/IP Kernel (NTCPDRV).
(Picture: Boot messages from the packet driver)
(*01) Link is no longer available, new links:
http://crynwr.com/
OR:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120608050708/http://www.crynwr.com/
(*02) Link is still OK, see also:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220430023552/http://www.georgpotthast.
de/sioux/packet.htm (everything in ONE LINE, NO free space!)
(*03) Link is still OK, see also:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220816201632/http://www.georgpotthast.
de/sioux/pktdrv/nicscan.zip (everything in ONE LINE, NO free space!)
Copyright © 2007 Ulrich Hansen, Mainz (Germany), updated 2011
and 2020 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".