sean@fiamass.ie (Sean Mc grath) (12/07/90)
I have only recently heard of a new software interface specification for network cards in PC's called NDIS. 3COM tell me that their TCP/IP uses it. Has anyone out their anymore details about NDIS? Thanks In Advance, Sean Mc Grath (sean@fiamass.ie) Fiamass Ireland Ltd. 12 Clarinda Park North Dun Loaghaire Co. Dublin. Ireland.
fks@FTP.COM (Frances Selkirk) (12/11/90)
NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) is not a card specification, but, as the name says, a driver specification. The specification was written by Microsoft and 3Com, to provide, like the packet driver, a common interface to many cards, which send packets to a single stack or demultiplex packets of different types for two protocol stacks. Although Version 2.0.1 of the spec came out about a year ago, most available drivers are still 1.0.1 based, and do not support unbinding. Both versions of the spec are available by anonymous ftp to vax.ftp.com. A packet driver to ndis converter, for most software that will run on the packet driver to use an NDIS driver, is available also, under the name "dis_pkt.dos." Unlike packet drivers, most NDIS drivers are written by hardware manufacturers, and are owned by those manufacturers. (As far as I know, however, only Ungerman-Bass charges customers for their NDIS driver.) They tend to be supported software. Frances Kirk Selkirk info@ftp.com (617) 246-0900 FTP Software, Inc. 26 Princess Street, Wakefield, MA 01880
ce1zzes@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Sheppard) (12/12/90)
In article <9012102013.AA10764@ftp.com>, fks@FTP.COM (Frances Selkirk) writes: > > Unlike packet drivers, most NDIS drivers are written by hardware > manufacturers, and are owned by those manufacturers. (As far as I > know, however, only Ungerman-Bass charges customers for their NDIS > driver.) They tend to be supported software. > I'd like to add that Ungermann-Bass' last quote on the yet-to-be-released NDIS driver for their NIU (not NIC) cards is $395 for the TCP stack version. Man! Spend over a thousand for this NIU card, and it won't even work with anything that's not UB software until you fork over another $four hundred! We can't get non-UB cards to work with the UB-net software, we can't get NIU cards to run NFS. What a waste! Eric -- Eric Sheppard Georgia Tech | "Of course the US Constitution isn't Atlanta, GA | perfect; but it's a lot better than what ARPA: ce1zzes@prism.gatech.edu | we have now." -Unknown uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!ce1zzes
xxseub@osprey.lerc.nasa.gov (Steven Eubanks) (12/12/90)
In article <18484@hydra.gatech.EDU>, ce1zzes@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Sheppard) writes: |> |> I'd like to add that Ungermann-Bass' last quote on the |> yet-to-be-released |> NDIS driver for their NIU (not NIC) cards is $395 for the TCP stack |> version. . . . |> We can't get non-UB cards to work with the UB-net software, we can't |> get |> NIU cards to run NFS. What a waste! |> Just a point of clarification: I suspect that the $395 is for UB's TCP implementation (TCP for NDIS) which will run over their ($50) NDIS driver. You could purchase the UB NDIS driver for $50 and then go purchase some other vendor's NDIS compliant TCP protocol stack which includes NFS, at that vendor's price. That's the only way I've successfully run NFS on a UB NIU. The only advantage I could see in using 'TCP for NDIS' would be to preserve any UB applications requiring their protocol stack by running 'TCP for NDIS' over some other vendor's NDIS compliant card/driver. Theoretically speaking, of course. :-) Steve -- Steven W. Eubanks, EDS/LIMS NASA Lewis Research Center Internet:xxseub@osprey.lerc.nasa.gov 21000 Brookpark Rd. (216)433-8498 Cleveland, OH 44135 Disclaimer: Opinions like mileage, may vary.
jbreeden@netcom.UUCP (John Breeden) (12/12/90)
In article <18484@hydra.gatech.EDU> ce1zzes@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Sheppard) writes: >In article <9012102013.AA10764@ftp.com>, fks@FTP.COM (Frances Selkirk) writes: >> >> Unlike packet drivers, most NDIS drivers are written by hardware >> manufacturers, and are owned by those manufacturers. (As far as I >> know, however, only Ungerman-Bass charges customers for their NDIS >> driver.) They tend to be supported software. >> > >I'd like to add that Ungermann-Bass' last quote on the yet-to-be-released >NDIS driver for their NIU (not NIC) cards is $395 for the TCP stack version. >Man! Spend over a thousand for this NIU card, and it won't even work with >anything that's not UB software until you fork over another $four hundred! >We can't get non-UB cards to work with the UB-net software, we can't get >NIU cards to run NFS. What a waste! > I think that whoever you talked to gave you bad info. UB sells their complete set of NDIS MAC drivers (ISA & MCA NIC & NIUs) for fifty bucks. They figure by charging, they stop the people who are "just collecting drivers", big customers get them for free. Something tells me you got a quote for a tcp-ip package - not NDIS drivers. I don't work for UB, but I know what they charge for the drivers. -- John Robert Breeden, netcom!jbreeden@apple.com, apple!netcom!jbreeden, ATTMAIL:!jbreeden ------------------------------------------------------------------- "The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from. If you don't like any of them, you just wait for next year's model."