For NDIS 3.1 adapter mini-drivers, the mini-driver divides the existing NDIS media access control (MAC) layer into two halves and implements only the half specific to the network adapter. These include specific details such as establishing communications with the adapter, turning on and off electrical isolation for Plug and Play, providing media detection, and enabling any value-added features the adapter may contain. The mini-driver wrapper implements the other half of the MAC functionality that remains common to all NDIS drivers. In earlier releases of NDIS, each adapter driver carried all this redundant code, so mini-drivers are faster and are roughly 40 percent smaller than existing NDIS 3.x network adapter drivers.
Windows 95 architecture for NDIS 3.1 protocols