Network PC System Design Guidelines
The Network PC System Design Guidelines (co-authored by Compaq Computer Corporation, Dell Computer Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corporation, and Microsoft Corporation) present information for engineers who build or plan to build personal computers and expansion cards under the Network PC (Net PC) design initiative.
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About Net PC
The Net PC is a new addition to the PC family — not a replacement — using Intel Architecture and other microprocessor architectures that run the Microsoft Windows or Windows NT Workstation operating systems.
The Net PC will reduce the cost of business computing by optimizing the design for users who do not require the flexibility and expandability of the traditional PC, and by allowing organizations to centrally manage their information technology. Although usage will vary, the Net PC will be ideally suited for those business users involved in activities such as data entry, transaction processing, and intranet and Internet access.
Following the Net PC design guidelines will enable PC manufacturers to deliver products with a baseline level of manageability and interoperability. The guidelines also offer greater certainty to information technology (IT) managers that specific steps have been taken to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).
The Net PC supports either Windows 95 or Windows NT Workstation; however, more significant TCO reductions will be realized with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and later versions. An important benefit of the Net PC design is its assurance of a seamless migration path to the rich system-manageability capabilities that are part of Windows 2000 Professional.
The Net PC is designed to be a highly manageable platform, with network boot capabilities, controlled and managed upgrade capabilities, a "sealed case" that prevents end-user access for changing the system hardware or software configuration, and hardware instrumentation. However, the Net PC preserves the corporate investment in existing Windows-based and Windows-compatible in-house application software while extending the computing platform to support Internet and intranet software based on Java and Microsoft ActiveX solutions.
The Net PC defined in these guidelines provides a complete hardware, software, and operating system solution for the PC manageability issues in corporate environments, where the benefits of PC-based computing can be preserved and enhanced through greater centralized control.
Changes from Version 1.0b
Addition to "Attachment A: DHCP Extensions for New System Setup": Additional ID values added for the Client System Architecture tag (DHCP option tag #93) for PXE
Two new values have been added to the Client System Architecture DHCP option tag #93. These are:
| • | 3 = Alpha architecture |
| • | 4 = ARCx86 |
The four possible values for tag #93 are now as follows:
| • | 0 = Intel Architecture PC |
| • | 1 = NEC/PC98 |
| • | 3 = Alpha architecture |
| • | 4 = ARCx86 |
with 2 reserved as a non-assigned, undefined value. (Change date: March 24, 1998)
Addition to "Attachment G: UNDI API Constant and Type Definitions":A Subsystem ID field has been added to the s_PXENV_UNDI_GET_NIC_TYPE structure returned by PXENV_UNDI_GET_NIC_TYPE. The new structure is as follows:
typedef struct s_PXENV_UNDI_GET_NIC_TYPE {
UINT16 Status; /* OUT: See PXENV_STATUS_xxx
constants */
UINT8 NicType; /* OUT: 2=PCI, 3=PnP */
union{
struct{
UINT16 Vendor_ID; /* OUT: */
UINT16 Dev_ID; /* OUT: */
UINT8 Base_Class; /* OUT: */
UINT8 Sub_Class; /* OUT: */
UINT8 Prog_Intf; /* OUT: program
interface */
UINT8 Rev; /* OUT: Revision number */
UINT16 BusDevFunc; /* OUT: Bus, Device */
UINT32 Subsys_ID; /* OUT: Subsystem ID */
/*&Function numbers */
}pci;
struct{
UINT32 EISA_Dev_ID; /* Out: */
UINT8 Base_Class; /* OUT: */
UINT8 Sub_Class; /* OUT: */
UINT8 Prog_Intf; /* OUT: program
interface */
UINT16 CardSelNum; /* OUT: Card Selector
Number */
}pnp;
}pci_pnp_info;
} t_PXENV_UNDI_GET_NIC_TYPE;
(Change date: June 24, 1998)