Lars Tunkrans wrote:
>> MAC is the media access controller. Its sort of a
>> logical networking
>> layer. For example, all ethernet devices use the
>> same MAC protocols, so
>> its common to use a single MAC device. On a NIC,
>> this is usually the
>> main brains of the device.
>>
>> The PHY is the physical layer part -- the part that
>> does the actual
>> electrical or optical signaling, such as the
>> transceiver.
>>
>> It is not uncommon to have a single MAC controller
>> that can have
>> alternate PHYs, e.g. variants for optical or copper
>> signaling might use
>> the same MAC, but different PHYs.
>>
>
>
> allright, so basically these two pieces of silicon correspond
> more or less to the 2 bottom layers of the ISO networking model.
> And the PHY sholud be outside of Software Control ?
> or does it need to be initialised/booted up with some sort
> of parameter string ?
>
There is normally initialization that can and should be done.
-- Garrett
> ( Im just trying to understand the challanges of getting a specific set of
> hardware to play )
>
> //Lars
>
>
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