dear matthew...
>i would like to know more about the low level end of tcp ip and how the
>packets are handeled and formated on the transmission medium if you can
>point me in the right direction i would be grateful.
check out
rfc1180
and then
rfc2151
has good references ...
to get them
send mail to: rfc-info@isi.edu
with no subject and this in the body
RETRIEVE: RFC
Doc-ID: RFCxxxx
xxxx = 4 digit rfc number
more details in rfc2151
cheers
venu