Hi;
I am trying to learn how my Network Interface Card works from the ground
up:
Can anybody recommend a good read or detailed web site?
I have tried all the usual sites; TLDP, Wikipedia, How stuff works, The
PC Guide and googled. While they all give a bit of an overview they
really don't tell me the stuff I want to know. I am trying to work my
why up from the typical actual pieces of hardware to the user
abstractions.
Hardware: How do the following work?
1) The reception or sending of the electronic signal
2) How is the signal created or read.
3) On a diagram or picture, where is the card's cpu, registers and other
electronics such as clocks etc.
4) Where are the headers encoded/decoded? How?
5) etc.
Software: How do the following work?
1) Drivers
2) Ports
3) How data gets to Clients and/or Servers
I have lots of info on protocols and internet application software. I
have several texts that describe what happens to the data after it
leaves the NIC.
A large part of my confusion comes from the wide variety of NICs
available. I would like to stay in the simple league that deals with
cards like my own. It is a:
Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
PCI
Driver: 8139too
/dev/eth0
I don't expect anyone to take the time to answer those questions; but,
perhaps someone has the experience of knowing where else I can look to
get those questions answered.
I hopefully await a reply.
--
Regards Bill