Sounds like you've learned the rather bogus Novell terminology for
Ethernet packet formats. There are basically four in use:
IEEE 802.2 without SNAP (available on all IEEE 802 networks)
IEEE 802.2 with SNAP (available on all IEEE 802 networks)
Ethernet II ("DIX")
Novell "raw IEEE 802.3" (nonstandard!!! - IPX only)
All these frames can coexist on the wire; in the case of the "raw IEEE
802.3" frame this so happened by pure dumb luck, but nevertheless...
Some protocols are tied to a frame type, for example, TCP/IP is
*always* used with Ethernet II frames, and Ethertalk (DDC, Appletalk
over Ethernet) is always in SNAP frames.
On IEEE 802 networks that are not Ethernet and doesn't have the
Ethernet 1514-byte packet size limit (e.g. IEEE 802.5 Token Ring) DIX
frames are unrepresentable; on these networks DIX-using protocols are
encapsulated in a specific kind of SNAP frame.
IPX, in particular, can be transmitted over either of these frames,
just to make it confusing; furthermore, most systems treat the
different frame types as different logical networks. I believe Novell
recommend configuring using SNAP frames, whereas Ethernet II is
popular where interoperability with TCP/IP is important. Linux can
talk IPX over either of these kinds of frames (in fact
simultaneously); the ipx_interface or ifconfig command is used to
configure the appropriate network numbers and frame types.
-hpa
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