mhyman@hsfmsh.UUCP (Marco S. Hyman) (03/16/90)
In article <3633@csccat.UUCP> jack@csccat.UUCP (Jack Hudler) writes:
So I ask... The article says it require only netbios, but none came with
the NIC. IPX.COM must be loaded prior to NETBIOS.EXE.
I guess I must ask what is IPX.COM doing and is it normal for a NIC to
come with NETBIOS, or must NETBIOS aways be layered on something and
if so what are the different types of layers besides IPX?
Signed.....
Confused!
The source of this confusion is understandable. For some reason NetBIOS
is percieved as a protocol -- it isn't. NetBIOS was the interface
supplied with the original IBM PC network. I quote from RFC1001
NetBIOS defines a software interface not a protocol. There is no
"official" NetBIOS service standard. In practice, however, the
IBM PC-Network version is used as a reference. That version is
described in the IBM document 6322916, "Technical Reference PC
Network"[2].
Protocols supporting NetBIOS services have been constructed on
diverse protocol and hardware foundations. Even when the same
foundation is used, different implementations may not be able to
interoperate unless they use a common protocol. To allow NetBIOS
interoperation in the Internet, this RFC defines a standard
protocol to support NetBIOS services using TCP and UDP.
It sounds like Novell also provides NetBIOS service thru their protocols
(IPX??).
I do wish the popular magazines would be more careful with their
definitions of NetBIOS. I've even been asked to ``implement NetBIOS'' on
an imbedded system. Lan Technology magazine should certainly get it
right.
// marc
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