I think the "When..." condition is what's confusing you.
For instance, SLIP?

On Fri, 10 Nov 2000, Jamie Ostrowski wrote:

>   TCP/IP CH 6 - Configuring the Interface
> 
>  "When networking protocols work only with a single kind of physical
> network, there is no need to identify the network interface to the
> software. The software knows what the interface MUST be; no configuration
> issues are left for the administrator."
> 
>   This doesn't make sense to me, because if I set up a machine with an
> ethernet card in it, I still have to configure that interface. I tell it
> what IP address to use. Even if I only have one ethernet card, and no
> other interfaces installed, this is so. Why would they say something like
> this? What do they mean that if there is only one physical interface it
> doesn't need to be configured?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy Houck
thouck at thouck.com
www.thouck.com