<s>
The	O
NE1000	O
and	O
NE2000	O
are	O
members	O
of	O
an	O
early	O
line	O
of	O
low	O
cost	O
Ethernet	O
network	B-Protocol
cards	I-Protocol
introduced	O
by	O
Novell	O
in	O
1987	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
,	O
Novell	O
was	O
looking	O
to	O
shed	O
its	O
hardware	O
server	O
business	O
and	O
transform	O
its	O
flagship	O
NetWare	B-Operating_System
product	O
into	O
a	O
PC-based	O
server	O
operating	O
system	O
that	O
was	O
agnostic	O
and	O
independent	O
of	O
the	O
physical	O
network	O
implementation	O
and	O
topology	B-Architecture
(	O
Novell	O
even	O
referred	O
to	O
NetWare	B-Operating_System
as	O
a	O
NOS	O
,	O
or	O
network	O
operating	O
system	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
of	O
the	O
key	O
pieces	O
of	O
this	O
strategy	O
were	O
already	O
in	O
place	O
:	O
Ethernet	O
and	O
Token	B-Device
Ring	I-Device
(	O
among	O
others	O
)	O
had	O
been	O
codified	O
by	O
the	O
IEEE	O
802	O
standards	O
committee	O
the	O
draft	O
was	O
not	O
formally	O
adopted	O
until	O
1990	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
already	O
in	O
widespread	O
use	O
,	O
and	O
cards	O
from	O
one	O
vendor	O
were	O
,	O
on	O
the	O
whole	O
,	O
wire-compatible	O
with	O
cards	O
complying	O
with	O
the	O
same	O
802	O
working	O
group	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
to	O
the	O
reference	O
design	O
,	O
Novell	O
used	O
Programmed	B-General_Concept
I/O	I-General_Concept
instead	O
of	O
the	O
slower	O
ISA	B-Architecture
DMA	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Novell	O
’s	O
design	O
also	O
did	O
n’t	O
map	O
the	O
card	O
’s	O
internal	O
buffer	O
RAM	B-Architecture
into	O
the	O
host	O
’s	O
address	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
card	O
,	O
the	O
NE1000	O
(	O
8-bit	O
ISA	B-Architecture
;	O
announced	O
as	O
"	O
E-Net	O
adapter	O
"	O
in	O
February	O
1987	O
for	O
)	O
The	O
"	O
NE	O
"	O
prefix	O
stood	O
for	O
"	O
Novell	O
Ethernet	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NE2000	O
,	O
using	O
the	O
16-bit	O
ISA	B-Architecture
bus	I-Architecture
of	O
the	O
PC	B-Operating_System
AT	I-Operating_System
followed	O
in	O
1988	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
uses	O
thin	O
Ethernet	O
;	O
the	O
second	O
(	O
"	O
B	O
"	O
)	O
revision	O
added	O
an	O
Attachment	B-Protocol
Unit	I-Protocol
Interface	I-Protocol
(	O
AUI	O
)	O
port	O
to	O
support	O
a	O
transceiver	O
,	O
and	O
later	O
models	O
NE1000T	O
and	O
NE2000T	O
added	O
built-in	O
10BASE-T	B-Protocol
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
intent	O
of	O
this	O
program	O
was	O
to	O
drive	O
down	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
network	O
hardware	O
to	O
promote	O
the	O
adoption	O
of	O
PC	B-Device
networking	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
remain	O
competitive	O
with	O
Novell	O
's	O
bargain-price	O
cards	O
,	O
3Com	O
and	O
other	O
vendors	O
were	O
forced	O
to	O
cut	O
the	O
pricing	O
of	O
their	O
entry-level	O
network	B-Protocol
cards	I-Protocol
,	O
contributing	O
greatly	O
to	O
the	O
networking	O
boom	O
of	O
the	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
a	O
lesser	O
extent	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
arguable	O
that	O
the	O
success	O
of	O
the	O
NE1000/2000	O
cards	O
helped	O
to	O
tip	O
the	O
scale	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
LAN	O
wars	O
"	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
Ethernet	O
(	O
championed	O
by	O
3Com	O
)	O
over	O
Token	B-Device
Ring	I-Device
(	O
championed	O
by	O
IBM	O
)	O
,	O
though	O
its	O
main	O
impact	O
was	O
to	O
significantly	O
lower	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
PC	B-Device
networks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Besides	O
NetWare	B-Operating_System
,	O
driver	O
support	O
for	O
these	O
cards	O
was	O
(	O
and	O
still	O
is	O
)	O
available	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
operating	O
systems	O
,	O
including	O
DOS	B-Device
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
UNIX	B-Application
,	O
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
QNX	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Note	O
that	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
does	O
not	O
support	O
non-Plug	O
and	O
Play	O
versions	O
and	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
does	O
not	O
support	O
the	O
NE2000	O
at	O
all	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
appears	O
to	O
have	O
a	O
working	O
driver	O
.	O
</s>
