Talk:Network interface controller

Is not "network interface card" different from "network interface controller" ?
I am not expert of NICs but i see that although N.I.Controller links here, this topic is mostly related with network interface cards. I supposed that there were some references to the productors of NIController. For example, National semiconductor's DP8390D/NS32490D. Am i wrong?


 * I won't claim to be an expert either, but I imagine that 'Network Interface Card' refers to a dedicated expansion card, which might be installed via a PCI slot. If that is the case, then a Network Interface Controller would likely be a broader term used to describe any component that performs similar functions, including those directly installed onto the motherboard, or integrated into the chipset. However, as I implied, the above is entirely speculation and my comment should not be regarded as fact. Needles-Kane 22:47, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

NIC is actually Network Interface Controller (hence why you get the term NIC card, it's not a case of RAS syndrome) however popular misuse of it as Network Interface Card has eclipsed the original meaning and the controller aspect has all but been forgotten. 82.36.238.48 01:54, 8 June 2007 (UTC)


 * If that's true, should the article be renamed Network interface controller card? It is confusing for an article titled Network interface controller to start out with "A network interface card (NIC) is a hardware device..." --Kvng (talk) 00:08, 17 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Lead has been reworked to align with title. ~Kvng (talk) 14:41, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

data storage networks
This wiki article is Ethernet-centric/biased, and the main text should be extended/expanded to deal with other networks/protocols, which also share the abbreviation NIC.

Although probably one of the most common networks/protocols is Ethernet, other forms of network also exist and persist.

In particular, there are data storage networks/protocols, which sometimes also use the abbreviation NIC. (See the related term/wiki article on Host (Bus) Adapter (HBA)). 66.155.23.67 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:14, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Backdoors
I have removed the following discussion of NICs with backdoors as I don't see evidence that this academic proposal was ever built. Maybe the NSA has built them... ~Kvng (talk) 17:57, 21 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Some NICs support transmit and receive queues without kernel support allowing the NIC to execute even when the functionality of the operating system of a critical system has been severely compromised. Those NICs support:
 * Accessing local and remote memory without involving the remote CPU.
 * Accessing local and remote I/O devices without involving local/remote CPU. This capability is supported by device-to-device communication over the I/O bus, present in switched-based I/O interconnects.
 * Controlling access to local resources such as control registers and memory.

Dlink removed
It said Dlink was removed because there was already 7 manufacturers. There are more than 7 manufacturers of NICs, and that page is just a template that can be added too. Vandals.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.205.44.26 (talk) 03:00, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * If you want to edit Template:Infobox computer hardware to support more than 7 manufacturers, go ahead. Until it's edited to do so, adding additional manufacturers will only affect the source code to the page; it won't affect what's displayed on the page, as the additional manufacturers will be ignored by the template - that can easily be demonstrated by adding a "manuf8 = " entry to it and then previewing the page. Guy Harris (talk) 03:17, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

""Network interface" redirects here" - so what page describes the loopback interface?
The network interface page used to say

"In computing, a network interface is a software or hardware interface between two pieces of equipment or protocol layers in a computer network."

which covers interfaces such as the loopback interface and various other interfaces that connect to non-physical networks ("software or hardware interface"). What page covers those now? Guy Harris (talk) 22:38, 19 October 2021 (UTC)


 * (accessible through Loopback interface redirect). ~Kvng (talk) 23:10, 19 October 2021 (UTC)
 * That covers the loopback interface, but not other such interfaces. Virtual network interface covers that.  Should network interface be a page that mentions the general concept and then refers both to network interface controllers and virtual network interfaces, should it be a disambiguation page that points to both, or should this page have a hatnote saying "Network interface redirects here.  For network interfaces not associated with networking hardware, see virtual network interface." or something such as that? Guy Harris (talk) 05:00, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Now that we've flushed all of this out, I'm fine with restoring Network interface as a DAB listing Network interface controller, Loopback interface, Virtual network interface and Network interface device. I don't think we should have Network interface as a broad-topic article. ~Kvng (talk) 14:30, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Done. Guy Harris (talk) 21:40, 21 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks also for working out the incoming links. I should have looked at those when I redirected. It was not quite as cut and dried as I had assumed. ~Kvng (talk) 15:01, 24 October 2021 (UTC)