🚀 go-pugleaf

All,

Let's imagine a hypothetical case.  You want to implement minimal data
transport over FDDI, with just enough MAC/SMT support for somewhat robust
LLC, and nothing more.  You don't care about MIB management or SRF's at
this point.  Anyone who's read through the FDDI standards can tell you what
is perscribed as mandatory and what is optional, but how much can you
really get away with?  In a real implementation, are any SMT frame services
absolutely essential for keeping the ring up?  NIF frames immediately come
to mind.  What about the many different types of CMT services and
functions?  I would suppose that most nodes would cause trouble if they
didn't all implement full RMT and PCM support in or out of the MAC
chip/software layer.

This case is actually not so hypothetical.  I'm wondering about PC FDDI
interface cards such as the one from Network Periperals.  Does the small
NDIS driver loaded and/or firmware on the board actually implement all the
ANSI-draft-standard mandatory components of the MAC/SMT protocols that are
not covered by the National chipset, or just a bare minimum functional
subset?  Unfortunately, this board comes with little or no technical
information.

Gary Hildebrand
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