Although these products differ in significant technical areas, their function to you, the end-user, is essentially the same. These PCs make files, printers, and specialized peripherals available to the client PCs on the network. The type of networking adapter used in your computer determines the type of cabling the network uses, the procedure the network adapters use to share the cable, and the type of signaling they use over the cable. The network adapters and cable can vary widely. Some common cable types are Ethernet, Token Ring, and ARCNet .
Some cable systems are inherently faster and more expensive than others.
Network adapters and the various cabling and signaling schemes can be fairly complicated. NOS allows you to use almost any type of cable and network adapter. In the simplest terms, network operating systems make distant resources local. If you are interested in files that reside on a computer down the hall, the network software enables you to access those files as if they were located on drives in your own computer. Some NOS permit using modems and attach to mini-computers via the COM1 port.