Advanced

1. The instructions say that the DFE-530TX+ card must be installed into a PCI slot with "bus mastering." What is "bus mastering" and how do I know if my slots have this capability? (Back to DFE-910 FAQ questions)

A "bus mastering" device is one that can take control of the system bus for the purpose of accessing the computer’s memory and other I/O devices without having to interrupt the CPU to perform the task. In the case of the DFE-530TX+, it will not install correctly if the PCI slot does not support bus mastering.

Most computers built after 1998 have PCI slots that support bus mastering. On computers running Windows 98, you may be able to determine whether the PCI slots support bus mastering by reading the description beside the PCI IDE controller in the Computer Properties window. To do this, go to Control Panel à System à Device Manager à Computer à Properties, browse through the list of in-use IRQs for IRQ 14 or 15, and read the description to see if the words "Bus Master" appear therein. Please keep in mind that not all computers with bus mastering slots will have the words "Bus Master" in this description. If available, read the documentation that came with your PC to see if the motherboard’s PCI slots are called "bus mastering" slots.

If you are running a small Windows–based, peer-to-peer network and you do not intend to share Internet access among the computers on the network, then you only need a single, name–based protocol such as Microsoft’s NetBEUI. This protocol works by broadcasting the names of the computers (or devices) across the network each time you initiate a request for access to the resources of another computer or device (e.g., printer) in your workgroup. If you have a device such as a print server that requires the IPX.SPX protocol, you will need to install that protocol as well.

If you intend to share Internet access among the computers on your network, you will need to add the TCP/IP protocol to each PC. Subsequently, you must configure the TCP/IP Properties on each PC for either a manually–assigned or automatically–assigned IP address. If you are running an IP–address–based Client/Server network, you will need to install the TCP/IP protocol. Your particular network may require IPX/SPX as well. If you are in doubt as to which protocols you need, install all of them. This is sometimes referred to as being, fully–networked. On a small network you will see little, if any, performance degradation as the result of installing all of these protocol. On a larger network, however, you can degrade performance by installing unnecessary protocols.

A typical, fully–networked Windows 95/98 Configuration Tab would look as follows.

Your configuration may differ from this one, especially if you have other networking clients or adapter components installed, e.g., a dial-up adapter.