LAN Hardware
A Local
Area Network is a system for connecting all of the computers in the same
area. A LAN needs hardware and software.
Every computer that wants to be part of the LAN needs a Network Interface Card,
a
NIC. When you look up network cards in a hardware
catalogue you will also find it listed under network adapters. Most
motherboards have a network card built-in.
The network software is usually setup when you first install the
operating system. Windows automatically detects and adds the hardware
drivers during the installation. Occasionally, the Windows Wizard may prompt for
the manufacturer’s disk so that it can load the device drivers.
