This section summarizes the basic hardware design features for network communications devices and the specific features for PC 98.
1. PC system includes network adapter
Consumer PC 98
Office PC 98
Entertainment PC 98
Recommended
Required, if no modem
Recommended
It is recognized that OEMs supply PC systems to corporations for networking purposes in situations where the customer will insert network adapters at the end-user site. If the device is present in the system, it must meet the minimum requirements for network adapters defined in this chapter. Office PC 98 systems submitted for testing must include either a network adapter or a modem.
2. PC system includes internal or external ISDN device
Consumer PC 98
Office PC 98
Entertainment PC 98
Recommended
Recommended
Recommended
If an ISDN device is present in the system, it must meet the minimum requirements for ISDN devices defined in this chapter. For information about serial ISDN devices, see the “Modems” chapter in Part 4 of this guide.
3. PC system includes cable modem
Consumer PC 98
Office PC 98
Entertainment PC 98
Optional
Optional
Optional
Cable modems are not required features for any PC 98 system. Recommendations are provided in this chapter for informational purposes only.
4. PC system includes ATM adapter
Consumer PC 98
Office PC 98
Entertainment PC 98
Optional
Optional
Optional
ATM adapters are not required features for any PC 98 system. If the device is present in the PC system, it must meet the minimum requirements for ATM adapters defined in this chapter.
5. PC system includes ADSL adapter
Consumer PC 98
Office PC 98
Entertainment PC 98
Optional
Optional
Optional
ADSL devices are not required features for any PC 98 system. If the device is present in the PC system, it must meet the minimum requirements for ADSL adapters defined in this chapter.
6. PC system includes satellite or broadcast receiver with NDIS driver
Consumer PC 98
Office PC 98
Entertainment PC 98
Recommended
Recommended
Recommended
For information about the PC 98 requirements for supporting a broadcast receiver, which requires NDIS 5.0 support, see the “Video and Broadcast Components” chapter in Part 4 of this guide.
This section defines basic PC 98 hardware feature requirements for network adapters. Many of these requirements also apply for other network communications devices described in this chapter.
7. Adapter uses NDIS 5.0 miniport driver
Required
For PC 98, the network adapter driver must support NDIS 5.0 in order to take advantage of new operating system capabilities and must follow the NDIS miniport driver model. A full MAC implementation is not compliant with PC 98 requirements.
If the device is a switched WAN card (for example, ISDN, X.25, or S56), it must have an NDIS WAN miniport driver that supports all TAPI functions as defined for NDIS 5.0 in the Windows NT 5.0 DDK. It must support Windows remote access or other WAN services over WAN media.
8. Full-duplex adapter automatically detects and switches to duplex mode
Required
If the network adapter supports full duplex and if the network switch the adapter is connected to supports full duplex and standard ways of detecting the duplex mode, then the network adapter must be capable of automatically detecting the duplex mode and must use that mode. The goal is to automatically configure this setting without end-user intervention.
9. Adapter automatically senses presence of functional network
Required
The network adapter must be capable of dynamically determining whether it is functionally connected to a link partner such as a hub, switch, or router. If the adapter is on an expansion card not used as a boot device, then the device drivers can determine the presence of the functional link. If it is not functionally connected to a link partner, the miniport driver must provide appropriate NDIS status indication, using support for cable sense in NDIS 5.0.
No time duration is specified for the required detection or status indication.
For information about NDIS status codes and indication mechanisms, see the Microsoft Windows NT 5.0 DDK.
10. Adapter automatically senses transceiver type
Required
Network adapters that support multiple transceivers must be capable of automatically detecting which transceiver type is connected to the network. The network adapter then must automatically use that transceiver. In all cases, the user must not be required to set jumpers or manually enter information to inform the operating system of the transceiver type.
11. Adapter supports quadword buffer alignment for receive and byte buffer alignment for send
Required
Recommended: Byte buffer alignment for all buffers, which imposes fewer limitations on overlying software components.
Buffer alignment refers to the allowed offset addresses (boundaries) where packets can begin. Memory allocated for receive buffers must be quadword-aligned or better (byte-aligned or word-aligned). The send buffer must be capable of handling byte-aligned buffers.
The network adapter must impose minimal buffer-alignment restrictions.
12. Adapter communicates with driver across any bridge
Required
If the adapter uses a bridge, all communications must be free of errors across any bridge, such as a PCI bridge adapter.
13. Adapter supports filtering for 32 multicast addresses, at minimum
Required
Recommended: 128 addresses.
This capability is needed to support new push technology applications such as Microsoft NetShow, Active Desktop, and Internet Explorer 4.0. PC 98 requires a minimum capability for filtering 32 multicast addresses (also known as channels). This number is expected to increase incrementally in coming years. Future requirements will specify filtering for a minimum of 128 addresses.
14. Adapter is compatible with remote new system setup capabilities if used as boot device
Required
For a PC 98 system that uses a network adapter to support installing the operating system, the network adapter must be compatible with remote new system setup capabilities as defined in the open industry-standard Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). The DHCP provides for dynamic configuration of PCs on TCP/IP networks, as specified in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFCs 1533, 1534, 1541, and 1542. Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), Revision 2, supports boot-image download, as specified in IETF RFC 1530.
For Net PC systems and Office PC 98, a network adapter and system BIOS support are required to use the adapter as a boot device, as defined in the “BIOS meets PC 98 requirements for boot support” requirement in the “Basic PC 98” chapter in Part 2 of this guide.
The complete mechanism for remote new system setup is defined in the Network PC System Design Guidelines, provided as Appendix E in the References part of this guide.
15. Device Bay network adapter meets PC 98 requirements
Required
Any networking communications device designed as a Device Bay peripheral must interface with either USB, IEEE 1394, or both, and must support relevant USB device class specifications. All Device Bay peripherals must meet the requirements defined in Device Bay Interface Specification, Version 1.0 or higher.