[Linux-disciples] Recognizing a new NIC

[Adam Rosi-Kessel]

Stephen R Laniel wrote:
> Incidentally, Linuxy folks: why are ethN not in /dev? I'm
> still learning the boundaries and contours of the /dev
> filesystem, and I've not yet figured out why certain things
> are or are not in there.

They're not devices. They're interfaces.  My handwaving understanding is 
that there is an additional layer with an interface: bits going in and out 
of a network interface like eth0 are processed by the linux networking 
subsystem before they're actually passed on to the real 'device', which is 
the network card.

For comparison, you can output bits directly to, e.g., your serial or 
parallel ports, which are devices.  The kernel just sends the bits out the 
device as it gets them.

Clearly this is a simplification, because in either case there has to be 
some sort of processing, but maybe that's helpful as a start.
-- 
Adam Rosi-Kessel
http://adam.rosi-kessel.org
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