I've put plenty of AVRs on ethernet - and once, a 386, using an ancient DOS TCP/IP stack, but never a 286. Linux doesn't support it due to requiring an FPU. mT

I've put plenty of AVRs on ethernet - and once, a 386, using an ancient DOS TCP/IP stack, but never a 286. Linux doesn't support it due to requiring an FPU. mTCP (http://brutmanlabs.org/mTCP/ http://brutmanlabs.org/mTCP/) is a currently-maintained TCP/IP stack for MS-DOS that will run on any PC, 8088 and up. You also need a packet driver for your NIC. 286 machines are easy; nearly any 16-bit ISA NIC will work. XT-class machines are slightly trickier because not all NICs will work in 8-bit ISA slots and some packet drivers use 186/286 instructions.