From: "Robert Comer" 

WinXP *rarely* gets a PCI NIC right...

--
Bob Comer


"Rich"  wrote in message news:44971e38{at}w3.nls.net...
   Not correct.  I do expect a PC to automatically detect any off the shelf
adapter that is plugged in.  I do not expect that all drivers will be
automatically available but that is a distinct issue from recognizing the
hardware.  If I have a device without a driver Windows can still tell me
exactly what that device is.  Windows will offer to automatically search
for the driver if it is not available and for me often finds those drivers.
 If the hardware vendors choose they can have their drivers made available
that way.

Rich

  "Don Hills"  wrote in message
news:zY5kEtgaX2wD092yn{at}attglobal.net...
  In article , "Rich"  wrote:
  >   You don't expect a mainframe to automatically detect any off the
  >shelf adapter that is plugged in.  The PC could go back to the dark ages
  >too as this is how things used to be when the PC first came to be.

  You don't expect a PC to automatically detect any off the shelf adapter
that
  is plugged in, either. A device driver has to be present that will
recognise
  the adapter's ID or that the adapter is plug compatible with another. OS/2
  and Windows 9x have device drivers that recognise plug compatible
adapters.
  The c.s.i.p.h folks are currently running tests using the Windows 9x Spock
  SCSI driver for the dozen or so plug compatible Micro Channel SCSI
adapters
  from various manufacturers that are known to exist.

  --
  Don Hills

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