Now lets not overdo it here. :) TCP/IP isn't that complicated - I've ported
a TCP/IP stack to the Motorola 68332 micro.  It was a big project, but
certainly not impossible.  TCP/IP isn't "many" layers - it's two layers:
TCP and IP.  If you count the ethernet layer, it's three layers. The TCP
layer is pretty simple, it just breaks the message into "datagrams" and
hands them to the IP layer. The IP layer finds the route needed to get to
the other end. Finally, the Ethernet layer acts like a driver for the
network hardware.  I think the most difficult thing about doing this on a
PIC would be porting it to 8-bits.
                                                        - Dennis

At 06:03 PM 6/18/98 -0400, you wrote:
>     All the embedded TCP/IP stuff I've seen advertised is based on PC/104
>     boards, which are basically a single-board PC or peripheral with
>     clearly defined physical dimensions and connectors, and ROM DOS. With
>     a PC/104 board and a suitable PC/104 ethernet card you can use
>     standard PC TCP/IP software.
>
>     The TCP/IP protocol has many layers before it gets down to the actual
>     ethernet hardware, and implementing this with an MCU would be onerous
>     at best. PC/104 isn't cheap, but what is your time worth?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
          Dennis Merrill, BSEE
         Device Driver Engineer
         Embedded Systems Group
      Nicolet Instrument Corp.
          merrill@nicolet.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-