104 lines
4.8 KiB
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104 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
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<TITLE>Linux PCI-HOWTO: Ethernet Cards</TITLE>
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<H2><A NAME="s6">6. Ethernet Cards</A></H2>
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<P>Of course the ISA-ethernet-cards still work, but people are asking
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for PCI-based ones. The author of many (if not most) ethernet-
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drivers said the following some time ago (unfortunately I have not managed
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to contact him about new information):
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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From: Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
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Subject: PCI ethernet cards supported?
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<P>The LANCE code has been extended to handle the PCI version.
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I hope to get the PCI probe code (about a dozen extra lines in the LANCE
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driver) into the next kernel version.
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I'm working on the 32 bit mode code.
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I haven't yet started the 21040 code.
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<P>I'll write drivers for the PCnet32 mode and the DEC 21040. That
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will cover most of the PCI ethercard market.
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<P>file://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/people/becker/whoiam.html
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>In the new testkernels of 1.1.50 and above, the AMD-singlechip
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ethernetadapters are supported. With a pentium, they ought to then see
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900K/second ftps +(assuming an NCR PCI scsi controller) at about 20%
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cpu load. (AMD Lance).
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<P>Anything based on the AMD PCnet/PCI chip should work at the time
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being. In the US the Boca board costs under US$ 70
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<P>Geoffry Coram reported in the news that he got his 3com 590 TPO to work. He
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had to get the alpha driver from http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers.
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Other drivers would be there as well.
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Note http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/vortex.html
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<P>Donald Holmgren said he successfully attached his DEC DE435 (PCI) card to
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the local network on thin coax (BNC). The DE435 driver checks
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the twisted pair connection first, then switches to the
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alternate port (jumper selectable as AUI or BNC) if the
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10BaseT port fails.
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<P>Jim Cusick uses the Boca BEN 1PI card on a thin coax network.
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It works just fine. You might want to check out:
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http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/misc/boca-failure.html
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for details on the early failures of this card. My second card, after
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sending one back for replacement, was marked "PN 4186". The old one
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that did not work was "PN 4185". Mandate this newer model when you order
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from you vendor. At $ 70, the card is a good deal.
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<P>Dave Platt recommends to stay off the Boca BEN1PI card at all costs. It would
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be unreliable due to design flaws, and Boca seems unable to really fix the
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problem. The 3Com 3c590 "Vortex" PCI card is available in a combo version
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(10BaseT, thin coax, and AUI). The Linux driver for this card is not
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yet part of the release kernel, but is available from
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http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/vortex.html and can be patched
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into the later 1.2.x kernels (as well as 1.3.x) without much difficulty.
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The Linux driver does not support the interface autodetect feature of
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this card - you must use the DOS utility to configure the card for the
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interface you wish to use (thin coax in this case). Once you've done
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that, the Linux driver will use the correct interface.
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<P>He has been using a 3c590 for several weeks, and it is working fine.
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<P>Dave Kennedy said he got two of the above Boca boards and they work fine under
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light load, but under heavy work like ftping two 16M files into both
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directions, they failed. He sent the boards back to Boca for a
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hardwarefix. After they soldered a couple of things (diodes/resistors)
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onto the card and sent them back, the cards worked fine regardless of
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load. The two cards have been in 7/24 use in two P90 systems without
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problems for 6 months now.
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<P>Craig does not recommend it since Boca seems not to follow the
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AMD specs but he has been running them for 2 weeks without problems. He tested
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his NFS performance and has been moving large files to and from server (16M, 8M).
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He also tried to do all his workin localy using his data files mounted by NFS
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and has had no problems. Performance seems to be 100 percent better (wrt to NFS performance)
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over his NE2000 ISA board. (editors note: but so would probably have been
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the ISA SMC Elite Ultra?)
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss6.1">6.1 3com-3c590-tpo</A>
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</H2>
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<P>
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<P>Someone on usenet mentioned ht used the 3Com-3C590-TPO (EtherLink III - PCI).
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He had to get the "3c59x.c" driver and "vortex.patch" to make it work with
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his 1.2.8 Linux kernel.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss6.2">6.2 DEC435 PCI NIC</A>
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</H2>
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<P>
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<P>The DEC435 PCI NIC is said to work great with the drivers included
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in the Slackwaredistribution - I'd say they are in the standard-kernel?
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<P>
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