Is My Network Ethernet? 1

[RebelFox]

I have a small home of two network of 2 PC's attached to the internet via a firewall router. I use UTP CAT5 cable to connect my PC's to the router.

On my PC's Local Area Connection properties I have:-

Internet Protocol TCP/IP
Qos Packet Scheduler
File & Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks
Client For Microsoft Networks

How can I tell if my network is 'Ethernet'?
What physically dictates an Ethernet network?
Is the cable? The protocol? Or a combination of the two?

The reason I ask is because I expected to be able to see something on my Local Network Connection properties that says 'Ethernet'.

 

[edfair]

The firewall/router would be the first clue.
The cat5 would be a partial clue, and the fact that the cat5 plugs into the network connection would finalize the clue.
Usually there is an adapter in network properties that indicates ethernet. But there are adapters that use packet drivers, like yours. Had it been identified as an "ethernet packet driver" you would have known.

The determining factor is the ethernet adapter. There are multiple cable types and there are multiple protocols, and there are multiple clients. All of which can use multiple tranport media. As soon as the data is shoved into an ethernet adapter it is ethernet.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[jimbopalmer]

Token Passing Networks (Token Ring, FDDI, ARCnet) were technically better than ethernet, but they were never cheaper for vendors or users.

As is often the case, cheap wins over better, (VHS vs Beta, PC vs Macs) so over 99% of networks are ethernet. lately ethernet has added features (full duplex, switching, QOS, multicast) that almost equal other networks while still being cheap.

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[RebelFox]

Thanks for the info

 

[techkiwi]

Ethernet is a term that covers several things.

It can refer to the physical media (which can be coax but nowadays is usually UTP) and the protocol.

You're almost certainly using Ethernet especially if it's a small home network with standard PCs.