June 1994 / BYTE Lab Product Report

66 Ethernet Adapters	Our application tests identify the best NICs, PCMCIA cards, and parallel-port adapters for Ethernet networks - by Anthony J. Lennon
The Best 16-bit NICs Rankings for This Category Considered: Network Interface Cards Network Interface Cards	Prices for 16-bit ISA Ethernet NICs average $147 less than PCMCIA adapters and $129 less than parallel-port adapters, and NIC prices continue to drop.
Has sle-Free NICs	For simplicity in ease of installation and use, choose a NIC with the following features (see the Roll Call on pages 260 through 263 for details on individual products): Configuration Software Utilities that automatically configure a NIC for the host system are ideal; nearly half of the NICs in this review can be configured automatically.
How We Tested Performance Test	Each of the three types of network adapters that we tested had to supply UTP (unshielded twisted-pair) connectors (some also included BNC and AUI connectors) and directly support Novell NetWare 386 version 3.11.
PCMCIA Cards Rankings for This Category Considered: PCMCIA Cards PCMCIA Cards	PCMCIA support by portable computers is becoming universal.
Universal C&S	Most PCMCIA Ethernet card vendors provide their own C&S software with their adapter or inc lude enabler drivers that let the card function in the absence of C&S.
Portable Ethernet Adapters Rankings for This Category Considered: Portable Ethernet Adapters Portable Ethernet Adapters Portable Ethernet Adapters	Portable adapters quickly connect via the parallel port to portable and desktop computers, which may not have an available expansion slot for a standard adapter.
You can attach a printer cable	You can attach a printer cable to the parallel pass-through ports of the Compex Para Port-E and the Longshine LCS-8834P-M.
The Accton Ethernet PCMCIA Card's coupler	The Accton Ethernet PCMCIA Card's coupler comes with both 10Base-T and 10Base-2 connectors and still manages to be compact and light; the type of cabling used is auto-selectable.
The Black Box Modular Parallel Adapter	The Black Box Modular Parallel Adapter features modular media units, so you don't need to purchase a new adapter if there is a media change.
The GVC NIC-2003BT is software-configurable	The GVC NIC-2003BT is software-configurable only with respect to its emulation mode (NE2000 or Western Digital 8013EBT).
The design of the Danpex EN-6000BT portable adapter	The design of the Danpex EN-6000BT portable adapter is subpar.
Roll Call Of Ethernet Adapters

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