Every machine has to be connected via wires.
All machines that are parts of the network are animated. Their animation provides some basic information.
Only controller has limit of how many can be per network. Other network parts have no limit.
No, food does not rot in the system :).


Brain of of the network. One is required per network.
Animation states:
Green - machine is idle.
Green & Yellow - machine is processing data.
Red - Something went wrong. Please report it with starbound.log file attached.

Machine that allows you to connect drives to the network.
Animation states:
Green & vents on - Everything is ok.
Yellow & vents off - Machine is off due to either wrong connections (no controller or more than one controller detected) or error. Before reporting please check wiring.

Network - player interface.
Items:
Items are inserted by shift-clicking them in.
When item is selected in the list it can be retrieved by either double-clicking (one stack) or by buttons on the bottom. Buttons with numbers will retrieve amount they are labeled with. If you want different value, for example 55 you can type specific amount in "How many?" text box and press "Get" button.
Additional features:
There is filter on the top of terminal's interface. It uses "like" ("contains") matching mechanism to compare what is typed in. If you type "adv" it will find any item that contains said text in its name, for example "advanced circuit". Player can also filter by category by typing <c> or <category> and category name, for example "<c> mater" will display every that belongs to "Crafting Material" category. Filters can be chained with &. "<c>blo&dura" will display every item that belongs to "block" category and has "dura" in its name.
"Scan for blueprints" button will teach player every recipe that player would learn if you would have picked up at least one of each item in network. It probably will be mainly for players wanting to create new characters and teach them every recipe or users of often changing mods like "Frackin Universe".
Animation states:
Characters flashing on screen - Everything is ok.
Black screen - Machine is off due to either wrong connections (no controller or more than one controller detected) or error. Before reporting please check wiring.

Machine that can be used to connect distant places to the network.
Animation states:
Green - Everything is ok.
Red - Machine is off due to either wrong connections (no controller or more than one controller detected) or error. Before reporting please check wiring.

Machine that currently only allows you to upgrade drives. More about drive upgrades will be described below, in the "Upgrade Cards" section.

This machine gives you ability to automatically pull stuff from or export stuff to chests.
UI explaination:
Top left section is your config card slot. With it you can save and load settings from transfer node. Usefull if you have complex filters and want them in multiple devices.
Below you have filter slot and filter list. In this slot you can place either normal item or filter card that has some additional options, but to create those you need filter formatter. When you put something in slot and press + button it will be added to the list, but it will have grey circle next to it.
There are three of those "indicators": grey circle (None) means that filter is inactive. Arrow up (Import) means that this filter will import stuff from container to network. Arrow pointing down (Export) means that items will be exported into container. You can change those modes via top right button after selecting said filter.
Below button to change mode you have activation settings. There are 3 to choose: Manual , Wire and Item. Manual and Wire are straightforward, so i will jump to Item. In slot that will appear you place item that will have its count checked in the network. Then you select mode (either >= or <=) and then count. Selected filter will be active when this item will evaluate to "true", so for example Water <= 5000 will operate when you will have less than or equal 5000 water.
In "Additional Settings" you can change settings special for current mode. For import you have only "Leave" which sets how many items should be left in the slot after pulling. For Export you have more options. First count sets how many items of each type allowed by filter can transfer node export per container or slot (you can set that with button just below). Multiply is an option added especially for FU users. Transfer node will only export amount that is multipler of value specified there (with exceptions of 0 and 1). For Example FU's Arc Furnace processes ores in count of 2 per operation. Using this option you can make sure that you wont have any leftover occupying input slot.
Below Additional Settings you can set slots. Normally you add slots that transfer node will work with, and by default it wont work on any slot. You can invert selected slots With button below. If you press it without specifying slots then transfer node will work on whole container. If you add slot "2" to inverted mode then only slot 2 wont be managed by transfer node.



Crafting ingredient. It is used in few recipes in mod, for example upgrade cards.

In this box all your items are stored. Basic (unupgraded) version can store 8192 items that belong to 64 types. So to fill one basic drive you need only 8192 dirt or, for example 128 items that belong to 64 different types. Please note that items belong to the same type if they can stack or are exactly the same (from the code standpoint) so it is safe to assume that most weapons wont belong to the same type.
Drive size can be upgraded with Upgrade cards in Digital Drive Upgrader.

Upgrades are split into 2 categories: Capacity and Types. Capacity upgrades increase max amount of items that can be stored in drive. Types upgrades increase amount of different items types that drive can store.
Upgrades are split into 3 tiers: Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3.
Each drive can be upgraded 22 times total. 16 Mk1 upgrades, 4 Mk2 upgrades and 2 Mk3 upgrades.
Every drive will accept 8 Mk1 capacity upgrades and 8 Mk1 types upgrades. This will bump its stats to 131072 items and 128 types.
Mk2 upgrades can be installed only if player have installed 8 Mk1 upgrades of their respective type. Mk2 capacity upgrade can only be installed if you have already installed 8 Mk1 upgrades.
You can put only 4 Mk2 upgrades so choose wisely. You can install all 4 upgrades in one category or mix them, for example 2 capacity and 2 types or 1 capacity and 3 types. Max drive stats (if everything is put into one category) are: 524288 capacity or 256 types.
Mk3 upgrades are most powerful, but you can install only 2 of them. Each one will multiply value they belong to by 4. To install it you need drive that has 4 Mk2 upgrades installed.