1 INTRODUCTION
The 3Com EtherLink III Parallel Tasking adapters described in this guide are members of a family of third-generation Ethernet adapters. This family includes the 32-bit bus master Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)10 Mbps Ethernet network adapters. This guide contains installation and diagnostic information about the following EISA adapters:
■3C592-COMBO (RJ-45, BNC, AUI connectors)
■3C592-TPO (RJ-45 connector)
The two adapters are functionally identical; they differ only in the layout of the components on each board and the type of media supported on the backplates, as shown in Figure 1-1. The name “3C592 EISA adapter” is used in this guide to refer to both EtherLink III 10 Mbps EISA adapters unless otherwise specified.
The bus master drivers supplied with this adapter are compatible with the Fast EtherLink 10/100BASE-T EISA adapter. The bus master drivers shipped on the 3C59X EtherDisk diskette are compatible with the 3Com 3C59X family of EISA and PCI bus master adapters; they are not backward-compatible with the 3Com 3C5X9 family of EtherLink III adapters.
The 3C592 EISA adapter connects your EISA-compliant personal computer to an Ethernet network wired with IEEE 802.3 standard 10BASE2 or 10BASE5 coaxial cable, or 10BASE-T twisted-pair cable. The cable specification for each adapter type is shown in Table 1-1.
