3Com Corp, San Jose has jumped the gun a bit by announcing the availability of Novell IncNetWare 4.0-ready drivers for its entire line of EtherLink network adaptors. It has new MS-DOS ODI client drivers, which will also be included in Novell’s NetWare 4.0 Red Box package. The new drivers also support for the first time the ‘promiscuous mode’ operation needed for boards to work as part of a network analyser. Local network controllers that operate in promiscuous mode enable the computer system to see all local network packets, rather than only packets addressed to its own node. The change makes the boards suitable for use with Novell’s LANalyzer.
