What Is the NIC Expansion Slot?
The Network Interface Card (NIC) is a piece of hardware that adds network capabilities to a computer. Expansion slots are sockets on your computer's motherboard that enable you to add extra hardware. These extra components are not encased or presented separately, because they're meant to fit inside your computer. NICs are bare circuit boards, also known as cards, that allowed your computer to connect to networks. This is how they came by the designation Network Interface Card.
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Purpose
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Your computer cannot connect to any network without a NIC. The socket into which the network cable plugs is hard wired onto the NIC, which means that a computer without one cannot become part of a network. The NIC's functions include translating computer data into a format that networks can handle, waiting for a space on the network medium and applying the data, as an electronic signal, to the network wire. The NIC is also responsible for receiving data and translating it from an electrical signal into information your computer can process.
Data Translation
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Data moves around inside computers on eight parallel wires. Computers convert everything into binary data. Each digit in a binary number can only be zero or one. The digits of binary numbers are called bits, which are are organized into bytes. A byte is eight bits and those eight bits travel side by side around the computer. The network has only one wire for transmission, so the NIC's first function is to convert the parallel configuration into a serial line of data. Serial data bits pass in a straight line. In other words, one after the other rather than side by side.
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Media Access Control
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The core function of the NIC is called Media Access Control (MAC), and the part that performs these tasks is called the Medium Access Controller. When network administrators refer to MAC, they're abbreviating Media Access Control. MAC is a very significant term in networking. The MAC address of each computer is the serial number of the NIC, and each serial number is unique throughout the world.
Development
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The likelihood that a new computer needs a NIC inserted into an expansion slot is slim. In the early days of PCs, network capability was seen as a special function and only businesses were expected to need it. Most computers sold today have networking capability integrated into the motherboards. Despite the fact that this cabability is no longer added via a separate card, many still use the term NIC. While the term “Network Interface Controller” was invented to fit the NIC abbreviation, the description used most often is the more accurate “Network Adapter.”
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References
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