Linux Kernel in a Nutshell

Name

NET_ETHERNET — Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)

Ethernet (also called IEEE 802.3 or ISO 8802-2) is the most common type of Local Area Network (LAN) in universities and companies.

Common varieties of Ethernet are: 10BASE-2 or Thinnet (10 Mbps over coaxial cable, linking computers in a chain), 10BASE-T or twisted pair (10 Mbps over twisted pair cable, linking computers to central hubs), 10BASE-F (10 Mbps over optical fiber links, using hubs), 100BASE-TX (100 Mbps over two twisted pair cables, using hubs), 100BASE-T4 (100 Mbps over 4 standard voice-grade twisted pair cables, using hubs), 100BASE-FX (100 Mbps over optical fiber links), and Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps over optical fiber or short copper links). The 100BASE varieties are also known as Fast Ethernet.

If your Linux machine will be connected to an Ethernet and you have an Ethernet network interface card (NIC) installed in your computer, say yes here and read the Ethernet-HOWTO, available from http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto. You will then also have to say yes to the driver for your particular NIC.

Note that the answer to this question won't directly affect the kernel: saying no will just cause the configurator to skip all the questions about Ethernet network cards.