What does the NIC mean in the computer?

What does the NIC mean in the computer? (2009-10-28-11:45) Classification: Network Technology

Network cards are referred to as NICs, also known as a network adapter. NIC is one of the most basic parts of LAN, it is a hardware device connecting computer and network. NIC is plugged into the computer's motherboard slot and is responsible for converting the data that the user wants to pass into a format that can be recognized by other devices on the network and transmitted over the network media 
The English of the NIC is called Network Interface Card, referred to as NIC, also call network adapter. The network card is one of the most basic parts of the LAN, it is the hardware device that connects the computer with the network. Whether twisted-pair connection, coaxial cable connection or fiber optic connection, it is necessary to use the network card to achieve data communication. The usual network adapter is the one that connects the PC to the LAN. The network card (NIC) is plugged into the computer's motherboard slot and is responsible for converting the data that the user wants to pass into a format that can be recognized by other devices on the network and transmitted over a network medium.

The NIC must have two major technologies: the NIC driver and I/O technology. The driver uses the NIC and the network operating system compatible, realizes the PC computer and the network communication. I/O technology can realize the communication between PC and network card through the data bus. The network card is the most basic element in the computer network. In a computer local area network, if a computer does not have a network card, then this computer will not be able to communicate with other computers, that is, this computer and the network are isolated.

The main work of the network card is to clean up the data on the network, and then to send the data to the net after decomposing it into a packet of the appropriate size. For the NIC, each network card has a unique network node address, it is the network card manufacturer in the production of the ROM (read-only memory chip), we call it the MAC address (physical address), and guaranteed never repeat.

our daily use of the network card is an Ethernet network card. At present, the network card can be divided into 10M network card, 10/100m Adaptive network card and Gigabit (1000M) network card according to its transmission speed. If only as a general purpose, such as day-to-day office, is more suitable for using 10M network card and 10/100m Adaptive network card two kinds. If applied to the server and other product areas, it is necessary to select Gigabit Network card. 

Network card classification: The
type of computer supported by the network card is divided into: Standard Ethernet card, PCMCIA network card
supporting the transmission rate is divided into: ordinary 10Mbps network card, high-speed 100Mbps network card, 10/100mbps Adaptive network card, 1000Mbps network card by the
network card supported by the type of transmission media: twisted pair of network card, thick cable network card, cable network card, fiber card