Abstract: A method for communicating data and control from a host computer to a device is provided. The method includes generating a packet at the host computer and transmitting the packet to the device. The device responding to the packet with a handshake, and the handshake includes one of an ACK, a NACK, and an ALERT. The ACK is indicative that the packet was received without errors and a next packet in a sequence of packets can be sent to the device, the NACK is indicative that the packet was received without errors but a re-transmission should be attempted, and the ALERT is indicative of an error condition at the device and a re-transmission should not be attempted.