NE1000
| Industry | Computer networking hardware, software |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Ray Noorda |
Key people | Ray Noorda (founder) |
| Products | NE1000, NE2000 network cards, NetWare |
| Website | www |
The NE1000 and NE2000 represent some of the earliest affordable Ethernet network cards launched by Novell in 1987. Their broad acceptance played a crucial role in making networking more accessible within the computing industry. Both models were derived from a reference design created by National Semiconductor, which incorporated the 8390 Ethernet controller chip.
History
During the late 1980s, Novell sought to withdraw from its hardware server operations and reposition its flagship product, NetWare, as a server operating system for PCs that was independent of any particular network hardware or configuration. To facilitate this transition, Novell aimed to commoditize networking components—especially network interface cards—so that NetWare’s protocol capabilities would become the primary competitive advantage.
Although standards such as Ethernet and Token Ring had been widely established through the IEEE 802 committee, leading manufacturers like 3Com and IBM maintained high price points for their hardware. To address this, Novell designed its own network cards based on National Semiconductor’s DP839EB reference schematic featuring the 8390 chip. Diverging from the original design’s use of direct memory access, Novell opted for Programmed I/O, which reduced complexity and cost at the expense of some performance. Additionally, the design excluded mapping the card’s internal buffer RAM into the host system’s address space.
The first model, the NE1000 (an 8-bit ISA card), was introduced in February 1987 under the name "E-Net adapter," priced at . The "NE" acronym stood for "Novell Ethernet," reflecting Novell’s commitment to delivering cost-effective Ethernet hardware to complement its software offerings.
NE2000
Released in 1988, the NE2000 featured a 16-bit ISA bus compatible with the PC AT and supported thin Ethernet. The subsequent "B" revision added an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) port to accommodate transceivers, while later versions such as the NE1000T and NE2000T incorporated native support for 10BASE-T connections.
Novell pursued two strategic initiatives with these cards. First, it encouraged third-party manufacturers to produce "NE1000-compatible" adapters without paying royalties by providing comprehensive manufacturing documentation and certification emphasizing driver interoperability. This approach aimed to lower network hardware expenses and accelerate PC networking adoption.
Second, Novell enabled its distributors to procure cards directly from Eagle—a contract manufacturing division of Anthem Technologies—thereby outsourcing production management while earning royalties on each unit sold.
This competitive pricing strategy compelled rivals like 3Com to reduce prices on their entry-level network cards, helping to drive the rapid expansion of networking throughout the 1990s. The NE1000 and NE2000 also played a significant role in establishing Ethernet’s superiority over Token Ring by drastically cutting PC networking costs.
Production of National Semiconductor’s 8390 chip ceased in 2003.
Clones
Numerous manufacturers released NE2000-compatible network cards under their own brand names; however, some variants did not maintain full compatibility—for instance, the Winbond 83C901 model disregards the reset signal.
Compatible operating systems
In addition to NetWare, NE1000/2000 network adapters enjoy extensive driver compatibility with DOS, Microsoft Windows, UNIX, FreeBSD, QNX, and Linux. Nevertheless, the non-Plug and Play variants are unsupported on Windows XP, while Windows Vista offers no driver support for the NE2000. A functional driver is included in Windows 2000.
Emulator compatibility
- DOSBox, through community-developed patches
- Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
- Bochs
- PCem, starting with version 13
- 86Box
Related topics
- AMD Lance Am7990 – AMD's 1985 networking chip
- 3Com 3c509 – 3Com's 1994 network card model
- RTL8139 – Realtek PCI network chip series from 1997 to 2005
Further resources
- DP8390D - NIC Network Interface Controller (Obsolete) (National Semiconductor) – original reference schematic
- Ne2000 (wiki.OSDev.org)
- Michal Necasek, Was the NE2000 Really That Bad?