1. Preface — RTEMS Networking User Manual 5.4-rc2 (21st August 2026) documentation

# 1. Preface

This document describes the RTEMS specific parts of the FreeBSD TCP/IP stack. Much of this documentation was written by Eric Norum (eric@skatter.usask.ca) of the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory who also ported the FreeBSD TCP/IP stack to RTEMS.

The following is a list of resources which should be useful in trying to understand Ethernet:

- Charles Spurgeon’s Ethernet Web Site “This site provides extensive information about Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) local area network (LAN) technology. Including the original 10 Megabit per second (Mbps) system, the 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet system (802.3u), and the Gigabit Ethernet system (802.3z).” The URL is: (http://www.ethermanage.com/ethernet/ethernet.html)

- TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 : The Protocols by W. Richard Stevens (ISBN: 0201633469) This book provides detailed introduction to TCP/IP and includes diagnostic programs which are publicly available.

- TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2 : The Implementation by W. Richard Stevens and Gary Wright (ISBN: 020163354X) This book focuses on implementation issues regarding TCP/IP. The treat for RTEMS users is that the implementation covered is the BSD stack with most of the source code described in detail.

- UNIX Network Programming, Volume 1 : 2nd Edition by W. Richard Stevens (ISBN: 0-13-490012-X) This book describes how to write basic TCP/IP applications, again with primary focus on the BSD stack.