[.ca] Embedded Ethernet and Internet Complete (ISBN 1931448000)

A really good book:
If you want to build networked embedded devices but aren't sure where to begin, buy this book. To the "sorry excuse for a reviewer" below, who just blindly writes the same review for all of Jan Axelson's books, please at least bother to buy and read the books first before launching a campaign of lies against this author's books.

Sorry excuse for a book titled "complete":
This book (and his others) do not cover things from a "complete" standpoint. If you are looking for a book to help you design hardware from scratch THIS IS NOT IT. All hardware and references to hardware are for off-the-shelf demo boards or OEM products. This book is more about writing software for *existing* hardware.

Replete with examples, suggestions, basics to get started:
Embedded Internet And Internet Complete by computer networking expert Jan Axelson is a very practical and "user friendly" instructional guide to designing and programming tiny web servers and using TCP/IP to communicate over local networks and the Internet. A truly in-depth, detail-oriented, and very comprehensive resource replete with examples, suggestions, basics to get started quickly, and more, Embedded Internet And Internet Complete is an ideal reference for professionals as well as those who aspire to a professional level of competence in their own right. Also very highly recommended are Jan Axelson's other computer instructionals: USB Complete; Serial Port Complete; and Parallel Port Complete.

Lots of details, needs organization:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jan's epic ethernet saga. Having interfaced a Motorola 68HC12 (8/16 bitter) to a Crystal Semi CS9000 Ethernet chip I can speak from experience that you should buy vs build to get your web enabled product out the door. My only complaint is that this book does not cover the latest "ethernet components" like the Lantronix XPORT or its clones. These are embedded ethernet appliance chips and the wave of the future for low cost embedded controllers. Nevertheless, this book forms a basic ethernet reference volume I am happy to have on my bookshelf. If you liked Jan's previous works on serial, parallel, or USB I/O you will enjoy this too!

"Complete" should be removed from the title:
This book does a poor job of explaining the actual protocols and structure of code. In my opinion, you could just as easily buy one of the demo boards mentioned in the book and read the documentation that comes with it rather than buying this book. Cheese whiz! Anybody can read an ad in a magazine for those Rabbit Semiconductor modules, buy one, and I'm sure you can be up and running with a minimum understanding of the hardware or the code in a short period of time. However, if your goal is to understand TCP/IP and layer two protocols, how to architect your code and optimize your hardware to meet the requirements of your particular project needs, then this book isn't going to get you there. You're better off getting "TCP/IP Illustrated" and even "TCP/IP Lean". A good summary of this book would be: "1) Buy a pre-built ethernet demo board. 2) Use the code that comes with the board and make the following function calls to that code." You could get the same info from any technical magazine ad and the documentation that comes with the demo board/module. And one parting thought. Is anybody who is willing and able to code up an embedded ethernet project really in need of an entire chapter devoted to the difference between a straight-through cable and a cross-over cable? Wouldn't that already be in your bag of tricks before attempting something like this?