8.3 Adding a Network Interface Card (NIC)
8.3.1 What is a NIC?
A Network Interface Card (NIC) is a device that plugs into a motherboard and provides ports for the network cable connections. It is the computer's interface with the LAN. The NIC communicates with the network through serial connections and communicates with the computer through parallel connections. When NICs are installed in a computer, they require an IRQ, an I/O address, and memory space for the operating system drivers in order to perform their function.

There are several important considerations to bear in mind when selecting a NIC to use on a network:

  • The type of network – NICs are designed for Ethernet LANs, Token Ring, FDDI, and so on. An Ethernet NIC will not work with Token Ring and vice versa.
  • The type of media – The type of port or connector that the NIC provides for network connection is for specific media types such as twisted-pair, coaxial, fiber-optic, or wireless.
  • The type of system bus – The PCI slots are faster than ISA. It is recommend that PCI be used with FDDI cards since an ISA bus will not handle the required speed.

Figure shows components of a NIC.