EXP Computer ThinLan 100 - Manual (Page 5)

Installation Overview
Before your computer system can recognize your PCMCIA Ethernet adapter, it is
necessary to run some software to enable it. This section gives a brief overview of
the installation process and explains the various type of enabler software that you
can use. There are three Operating System device drivers come with the package:
DOS, Windows 95, and Windows NT. A brief description of how to install each of
the device drivers is introduced in this section.
DOS
For DOS (Version 5.0 or later) There are three different types of enable
software which can be used to set up your PC Card Ethernet adapter: Direct
enable, Card Service client driver, and Super-client driver. (More detail can be
found in the Installation Section) The user need to decide which one to use. The
PCMCIA Ethernet adapter comes with an installation program that allow you
to automate the installation task. We recommend using the install.exe program
for a trouble free installation.
The install.exe program allow user to do an auto-configuration , where the
program chooses the most suitable option, or to do a custom configuration,
where user can individually select each option setting.
Windows 95
This PC Card Ethernet adapter is a Plug-n-Play device. This means that the
operating system will automatically detect the presence of the card. The user
does not need to manually add the card to the computer. The “New Hardware
Found” dialog box should appear on the screen the very first time the PC Card
Ethernet adapter is inserted into the notebook, it will prompt for the device
driver’s file location, in most cases will be the floppy disk. (A: or B) Check the
readme file on the device driver diskettes (included with the card) for the
directory name.
Window NT
There are two installation procedures for the PCMCIA Ethernet card in
Windows NT. First, during the text setup procedure, the Windows NT set up
program will have an option for the user to specify a LAN adapter and system
will ask for the device driver diskette, using the Network icon in Control Panel.
Choose “Add Adapter” Option to install the PCMCIA Ethernet card.
DOS Installation
1. Deciding which Enabler software to use
•
Almost every PC Card device requires the use of some type of enabler
software to which makes it possible for your computer to communicate
with the card. There are three different types of enabler software which can
be used to set up your PC Card Ethernet adapter: Direct enabler, Card
Service client driver, and Super-client driver.
• A direct enabler software communicates directly with you computer’s
PCMCIA host bus controller. The direct enabler needs to be run each time
you insert the PCMCIA card into the computer’s PCMCIA slot. It is not
permanently resident in memory, so using the direct enabler can conserve
precious memory resources.
•
A Card Service client driver software communicates with your card
through Card Service and Socket Service. The Card Service and Socket
Service is a system software designed to help interface computer hardware
and application software with PCMCIA cards. You may already have Card
Service and Socket Service built-in to your computer’s operating system
(Windows 95 or Windows NT) or your computer manufacturer may have
provided add-on software that supplies Card Service and Socket Service.
See Appendix A for some popular example of the driver names.
Card Service and Socket Service can manage your notebook hardware
resources such as memory, I/O and Interrupt so that these resources can be
allocated to various PCMCIA devices on as-needed basis. Based on this
concept, you can “hot-swap” your PCMCIA adapter without having to run
your PCMCIA enabler software each time you insert the adapter.
• A Super-Client driver is usually included with the Card service and Socket
Service software. The driver can recognize and enable several different
type of cards. Once the super-client driver is configured with information
about the adapter, it can handle allocation and hot-swapping for it and
other PCMCIA cards without the need for each card.
The disadvantage of the Card Service and Socket Service is that it remains
in memory and can use up a large amount of memory space.
In general, unless you intend to use several different PCMCIA cards and need
to have “hot-swapping” capability, we recommend that you use the direct
enabler.