Serial Line Internet Protocol

The Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) is a mostly , however, SLIP is still the preferred way of encapsulating IP packets due to its very small overhead.

SLIP modifies a standard Internet datagram by appending a special SLIP END character (computing) to it, which allows datagrams to be distinguished as separate. SLIP requires a port configuration of 8 Data Bits, no parity, and EIA or hardware flow control. SLIP does not provide error detection, being reliant on other higher-OSI model protocols for this. Over a particularly error-prone dial-up connection therefore, SLIP on its own is not satisfactory.

A version of SLIP with header data compression is called CSLIP (Compressed SLIP).

The Parallel Line Internet Protocol (PLIP) is very similar to SLIP, but works at higher bitrates via a parallel port.

Both SLIP and PLIP have been replaced by increasingly-common networks, including home networking – and by other peer-to-peer connections such as USB, used to transfer files to a second computer where a network is not necessary or available.