Article View: comp.os.linux.answers
Article #30Linux Ethernet HOWTO (part 2/3)
From: Paul Gortmaker
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 1995 00:00
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 1995 00:00
1508 lines
60189 bytes
60189 bytes
Archive-Name: linux/howto/ethernet/part2
Last-modified: 29 Apr 95
---This is part 2/3---
3.22.1. NE1000, NE2000
Status -- Supported
The now-generic name for a bare-bones design around the NatSemi 8390.
They use programmed I/O rather than shared memory, leading to easier
installation but slightly lower performance and a few problems. Again,
the savings of using an 8 bit NE1000 over the NE2000 are only
warranted if you expect light use. Some recently introduced NE2000
clones use the National Semiconductor `AT/LANTic' 83905 chip, which
offers a shared memory mode similar to the 8013 and EEPROM or software
configuration. Some problems can arise with poor clones. See
``Problems with...'', and ``Poor NE2000 Clones'' In general it is not
a good idea to put a NE2000 clone at I/O address 0x300 because nearly
every device driver probes there at boot. Some poor NE2000 clones
don't take kindy to being prodded in the wrong areas, and will respond
by locking your machine.
Donald has written a NE2000 diagnostic program, but it is still
presently in alpha test. (ne2k) See ``Diagnostic Programs'' for more
information.
3.22.2. NE1500, NE2100
Status -- Supported
These cards use the original 7990 LANCE chip from AMD and are
supported using the Linux lance driver.
Some earlier versions of the lance driver had problems with getting
the IRQ line via autoIRQ from the original Novell/Eagle 7990 cards.
Hopefully this is now fixed. If not, then specify the IRQ via LILO,
and let us know that it still has problems.
DMA selection and chip numbering information can be found in ``AMD
LANCE''.
More technical information on LANCE based cards can be found in
``Notes on AMD...''
3.22.3. NE3200
Status -- Not Supported
This card uses a lowly 8MHz 80186, and hence you are better off using
a cheap NE2000 clone. Even if a driver was available, the NE2000 card
would most likely be faster.
3.23. Pure Data
3.23.1. PDUC8028, PDI8023
Status -- Supported
The PureData PDUC8028 and PDI8023 series of cards are reported to
work, thanks to special probe code contributed by Mike Jagdis
jaggy@purplet.demon.co.uk. The support is integrated with the WD
driver.
3.24. Racal-Interlan
3.24.1. NI52**
Status -- Semi-Supported
Michael Hipp has written a driver for this card. It is included in the
standard kernel as an `alpha' driver. Michael would like to hear
feedback from users that have this card. See ``Alpha Drivers'' for
important information on using alpha-test ethernet drivers with Linux.
Michael says that ``the internal sysbus seems to be slow. So we often
lose packets because of overruns while receiving from a fast remote
host.''
This card also uses one of the Intel chips. See ``Programming the
Intel Chips'' for more technical information.
3.24.2. NI65**
Status -- Semi-Supported
There is also a driver for the LANCE based NI6510, and it is also
written by Michael Hipp. Again, it is also an `alpha' driver. For some
reason, this card is not compatible with the generic LANCE driver. See
``Alpha Drivers'' for important information on using alpha-test
ethernet drivers with Linux.
3.25. Sager
3.25.1. Sager NP943
Status -- Semi-Supported
This is just a 3c501 clone, with a different S.A. PROM prefix. I
assume it is equally as brain dead as the original 3c501 as well.
Kernels 1.1.53 and up check for the NP943 i.d. and then just treat it
as a 3c501 after that. See ``3Com 3c501'' for all the reasons as to
why you really don't want to use one of these cards.
3.26. Schneider & Koch
3.26.1. SK G16
Status -- Supported
This driver was included into the v1.1 kernels, and it was written by
PJD Weichmann and SWS Bern. It appears that the SK G16 is similar to
the NI6510, in that it is based on the first edition LANCE chip (the
7990). Once again, I have no idea as to why this card won't work with
the generic LANCE driver.
3.27. Western Digital / SMC (Standard Microsystems Corp.)
The ethernet part of Western Digital has been bought by SMC. One
common mistake people make is that the relatively new SMC Elite Ultra
is the same as the older SMC Elite16 models -- this is not the case.
Here is how to contact SMC (not that you should need to.)
SMC / Standard Microsystems Corp., 80 Arkay Drive, Hauppage,
New York, 11788, USA.
Technical Support via phone:
800-992-4762 (USA)
800-433-5345 (Canada)
516-435-6250 (Other Countries)
Literature requests:
800-SMC-4-YOU (USA)
800-833-4-SMC (Canada)
516-435-6255 (Other Countries)
Technical Support via E-mail:
techsupt@ccmail.west.smc.com
FTP Site:
ftp.smc.com
3.27.1. WD8003, SMC Elite
Status -- Supported
These are the 8-bit versions of the card. The 8 bit 8003 is slightly
less expensive, but only worth the savings for light use. Note that
some of the non-EEPROM cards (clones with jumpers, or old old old
wd8003 cards) have no way of reporting the IRQ line used. In this
case, auto-irq is used, and if that fails, the driver silently assings
IRQ 5. Information regarding what the jumpers on old non-EEPROM
wd8003 cards do can be found in conjunction with the SMC setup/driver
disks stored on dorm.rutgers.edu in the directory
/pub/novell/nic_drvs/. Note that some of the newer SMC `SuperDisk'
programs will fail to detect the old EEPROM-less cards. The file
SMCDSK46.EXE seems to be a good all-round choice. Also the jumper
settings for old cards are in an ascii text file in the aforementioned
archive. The latest (greatest?) version can be obtained from
ftp.smc.com.
As these are basically the same as their 16 bit counterparts (WD8013 /
SMC Elite16), you should see the next section for more information.
3.27.2. WD8013, SMC Elite16
Status -- Supported
Over the years the design has added more registers and an EEPROM.
Clones usually go by the `8013' name, and usually use a non-EEPROM
(jumpered) design. This part of WD has been sold to SMC, so you'll
usually see something like SMC/WD8013 or SMC Elite16 Plus (WD8013).
Late model SMC cards will have two main PLCC chips on board; the SMC
83c690 and the SMC 83c694. The shared memory design makes the cards
10-20 % faster, especially with larger packets. More importantly, from
the driver's point of view, it avoids a few bugs in the programmed-I/O
mode of the 8390, allows safe multi-threaded access to the packet
buffer, and it doesn't have a programmed-I/O data register that hangs
your machine during warm-boot probes.
Non-EEPROM cards that can't just read the selected IRQ will attempt
auto-irq, and if that fails, they will silently assign IRQ 10. (8 bit
versions will assign IRQ 5)
Also see ``8013 clones'' and ``8013 problems''.
3.27.3. SMC Elite Ultra
Status -- Supported
This ethercard is based on a new chip from SMC, with a few new
features. While it has a mode that is similar to the older SMC
ethercards, it's not compatible with the old WD80*3 drivers. However,
in this mode it shares most of its code with the other 8390 drivers,
while operating somewhat faster than a WD8013 clone.
Since part of the Ultra looks like an 8013, the Ultra probe is
supposed to find an Ultra before the wd8013 probe has a chance to
mistakenly identify it.
Std. as of 0.99pl14, and made possible by documentation and ethercard
loan from Duke Kamstra. If you plan on using an Ultra with Linux send
him a note of thanks to let him know that there are Linux users out
there!
Donald mentioed that it is possible to write a separate driver for the
Ultra's `Altego' mode which allows chaining transmits at the cost of
inefficient use of receive buffers, but that will probably not happen
right away. Performance re-writes of working drivers are low priority
unless there is some particular incentive or need.
Bus-Master SCSI host adaptor users take note: In the manual that ships
with Interactive UNIX, it mentions that a bug in the SMC Ultra will
cause data corruption with SCSI disks being run from an aha-154X host
adaptor. This will probably bite aha-154X compatible cards, such as
the BusLogic boards, and the AMI-FastDisk SCSI host adaptors as well.
Supposedly SMC has acknowledged the problem occurs with Interactive,
and older Windows NT drivers. It is supposed to be a hardware conflict
that can be worked around in the driver design. More on this as it
develops.
Some Linux users with an Ultra + aha-154X compatible cards have
experienced data corruption, while others have not. Donald tried this
combination himself, and wasn't able to reproduce the problem. You
have been warned.
3.27.4. SMC 8416 (EtherEZ)
Status -- Supported
This card uses SMC's 83c795 chip and supports the Plug 'n Play
specification. It also has an SMC Ultra compatible mode, which allows
it to be used with the Linux Ultra driver. In this compatibility
mode, it uses shared memory instead of programmed i/o. Be sure to set
your card for this compatibility mode.
Note that the EtherEZ specific checks were added to the SMC Ultra
driver in 1.1.84, and hence earlier kernel versions will not handle
these cards correctly.
3.27.5. SMC 8432 PCI (EtherPower)
Status -- Supported
These cards appear to be a basic DEC 21040 implementation, i.e. one
big chip and a couple of transceivers. Donald has used one of these
cards for his development of the generic 21040 driver. Thanks to Duke
Kamstra, once again, for supplying a card to do development on. See
``DEC 21040'' for more details on using one of these cards, and the
current status of the driver.
3.27.6. SMC 3008
Status -- Not Supported
These 8 bit cards are based on the Fujitsu MB86950, which is an
ancient version of the MB86965 used in the Linux at1700 driver. Russ
says that you could probably hack up a driver by looking at the
at1700.c code and his DOS packet driver for the Tiara card (tiara.asm)
3.27.7. SMC 3016
Status -- Not Supported
These are 16bit i/o mapped 8390 cards, much similar to a generic
NE2000 card. If you can get the specifications from SMC, then porting
the NE2000 driver would probably be quite easy.
3.27.8. SMC 9000
Status -- Not Supported
These cards are VLB cards based on the 91c92 chip. They are fairly
expensive, and hence the demand for a driver is pretty low at the
moment.
3.28. Xircom
Another group that won't release documentation. No cards supported.
Don't look for any support in the future unless they release their
programming information. And this is highly unlikely, as they forbid
you from even reverse- engineering their drivers. If you are already
stuck with one, see if you can trade it off on some DOS (l)user.
And if you just want to verify that this is the case, you can reach
Xircom at 1-800-874-7875, 1-800-438-4526 or +1-818-878-7600. They
used to advertise that their products "work with all network operating
systems", but have since stopped. Wonder why...
3.28.1. PE1, PE2, PE3-10B*
Status -- Not Supported
Not to get your hopes up, but if you have one of these parallel port
adaptors, you may be able to use it in the DOS emulator with the
Xircom-supplied DOS drivers. You will have to allow DOSEMU access to
your parallel port, and will probably have to play with SIG (DOSEMU's
Silly Interrupt Generator). I have no idea if this will work, but if
you have any success with it, let me know, and I will include it here.
3.29. Zenith
3.29.1. Z-Note
Status -- Supported
The built-in Z-Note network adaptor is based on the Intel i82593 using
two DMA channels. There is an (alpha?) driver available in the present
kernel version. As with all notebook and pocket adaptors, it is under
the `Pocket and portable adaptors' section when running make config.
See ``Programming the Intel chips'' for more technical information.
Also note that the IBM ThinkPad 300 is compatible with the Z-Note.
3.30. Zynx
3.30.1. Zynx (DEC 21040 based)
Status -- Supported
You have a choice of two drivers for cards based on this chip. There
is the DE425 driver written by David, and the generic 21040 driver
that Donald has written.
Note that as of 1.1.91, David has added a compile time option that may
allow non-DEC cards (such as the Zynx cards) to work with this driver.
Have a look at README.de4x5 for details.
See ``DEC 21040'' for more information on these cards, and the present
driver situation.
4. Clones of popular Ethernet cards.
Due to the popular design of some cards, different companies will make
`clones' or replicas of the original card. However, one must be
careful, as some of these clones are not 100 % compatible, and can be
troublesome. Some common problems with `not-quite-clones' are noted in
``the FAQ section''.
This section used to have a listing of a whole bunch of clones that
were reported to work, but seeing as nearly all clones will work, it
makes more sense to list the ones that don't work 100 % .
4.1. Poor NE2000 Clones
Here is a list of some of the NE-2000 clones that are known to have
various problems. Most of them aren't fatal. In the case of the ones
listed as `bad clones' -- this usually indicates that the cards don't
have the two NE2000 identifier bytes. NEx000-clones have a Station
Address PROM (SAPROM) in the packet buffer memory space. NE2000
clones have 0x57,0x57 in bytes 0x0e,0x0f of the SAPROM, while other
supposed NE2000 clones must be detected by their SA prefix.
Accton NE2000 -- might not get detected at boot, see ``ne2000
problems''.
Aritsoft LANtastic AE-2 -- OK, but has flawed error-reporting
registers.
AT-LAN-TEC NE2000 -- clone uses Winbond chip that traps SCSI drivers
ShineNet LCS-8634 -- clone uses Winbond chip that traps SCSI drivers
Cabletron E10**, E20**, E10**-x, E20**-x -- bad clones, but the driver
checks for them. See ``E10**''.
D-Link Ethernet II -- bad clones, but the driver checks for them. See
``DE-100 / DE-200''.
DFI DFINET-300, DFINET-400 -- bad clones, but the driver checks for
them. See ``DFI-300 / DFI-400''
4.2. Poor WD8013 Clones
I haven't heard of any bad clones of these cards, except perhaps for
some chamelion-type cards that can be set to look like a ne2000 card
or a wd8013 card. There is really no need to purchase one of these
`double-identity' cards anyway.
5. Cables, Coax, Twisted Pair
If you are starting a network from scratch, it's considerably less
expensive to use thin ethernet, RG58 co-ax cable with BNC connectors,
than old-fashioned thick ethernet, RG-5 cable with N connectors, or
10baseT, twisted pair telco-style cables with RJ-45 eight wire `phone'
connectors. See ``Type of cable...'' for an introductory look at
cables.
Also note that the FAQ from comp.dcom.lans.ethernet has a lot of
useful information on cables and such. Look in dorm.rutgers.edu for
the file /pub/novell/info_and_docs/Ethernet.FAQ
5.1. Thin Ethernet (thinnet)
Thin ethernet is the `ether of choice'. The cable is inexpensive. If
you are making your own cables solid-core RG58A is $0.27/m. and
stranded RG58AU is $0.45/m. Twist-on BNC connectors are < $2 ea., and
other misc. pieces are similarly inexpensive. It is essential that you
properly terminate each end of the cable with 50 ohm terminators, so
budget $2 ea. for a pair. It's also vital that your cable have no
`stubs' -- the `T' connectors must be attached directly to the
ethercards. The only drawback is that if you have a big loop of
machines connected together, and some bonehead breaks the loop by
taking one cable off the side of his tee, the whole network goes down
because it sees an infinite impedance (open circuit) instead of the
required 50 ohm termination. Note that you can remove the tee piece
from the card itself without killing the whole subnet, as long as you
don't remove the cables from the tee itself. Of course this will
disturb the machine that you pull the actual tee off of. 8-) And if
you are doing a small network of two machines, you still need the tees
and the 50 ohm terminators -- you can't just cable them together!
5.2. Twisted Pair
Twisted pair networks require active hubs, which start around $200,
and the raw cable cost can actually be higher than thinnet. They are
usually sold using the claim that you can use your existing telephone
wiring, but it's a rare installation where that turns out to be the
case. The claim that you can upgrade to higher speeds is also suspect,
as most proposed schemes use higher-grade (read $$) cable and more
sophisticated termination ($$$) than you would likely install on
speculation. New gizmos are floating around which allow you to daisy-
chain machines together, and the like. For example, Farallon sells
EtherWave adaptors and transceivers. This device allows multiple
10baseT devices to be daisy-chained. They also sell a 3c509 clone that
includes the EtherWave transceiver. The drawback is that it's more
expensive and less reliable than a cheap ($100-$150) mini-hub and
another ethercard. You probably should either go for the hub approach
or switch over to 10base2 thinnet.
On the other hand, hubs are rapidly dropping in price, all 100Mb/sec
ethernet proposals use twisted pair, and most new business
installations use twisted pair. (This is probably to avoid the problem
with idiots messing with the BNC's as described above.)
Also, Russ Nelson adds that `New installations should use Category 5
wiring. Anything else is a waste of your installer's time, as 100Base-
whatever is going to require Cat 5.'
If you are only connecting two machines, it is possible to avoid using
a hub, by swapping the Rx and Tx pairs (1-2 and 3-6).
If you hold the RJ-45 connector facing you (as if you were going to
plug it into your mouth) with the lock tab on the top, then the pins
are numbered 1 to 8 from left to right. The pin usage is as follows:
Pin Number Assignment
---------- ----------
1 Output Data (+)
2 Output Data (-)
3 Input Data (+)
4 Reserved for Telephone use
5 Reserved for Telephone use
6 Input Data (-)
7 Reserved for Telephone use
8 Reserved for Telephone use
Some cards, like the wd8013 can sense reversed polarity, and will
adjust accordingly. Also note that 3 and 6 must be a twisted pair. If
you make 3-4 a twisted pair, and 5-6 the other twisted pair, your
cable may work for lengths less than a metre, but will fail miserably
for longer lengths.
Note that before 10BaseT was ratified as a standard, there existed
other network formats using RJ-45 connectors, and the same wiring
scheme as above. Examples are SynOptics's LattisNet, and AT&T's
StarLAN. In some cases, (as with early 3C503 cards) you could set
jumpers to get the card to talk to hubs of different types, but in
most cases cards designed for these older types of networks will not
work with standard 10BaseT networks/hubs. (Note that if the cards also
have an AUI port, then there is no reason as to why you can't use
that, combined with an AUI to 10BaseT transceiver.)
5.3. Thick Ethernet
Thick ethernet is mostly obsolete, and is usually used only to remain
compatible with an existing implementation. You can stretch the rules
and connect short spans of thick and thin ethernet together with a
passive $3 N-to-BNC connector, and that's often the best solution to
expanding an existing thicknet. A correct (but expensive) solution is
to use a repeater in this case.
6. Software Configuration and Card Diagnostics
In most cases, if the configuration is done by software, and stored in
an EEPROM, you will usually have to boot DOS, and use the supplied DOS
program to set the cards IRQ, I/O, mem_addr and whatnot. Besides,
hopefully it is something you will only be setting once. For those
that don't have the DOS utility available, note that a fair number of
NIC setup/driver disks (e.g. 3Com, SMC/WD and Allied Telesis NIC's)
are available from dorm.rutgers.edu in the directory
/pub/novell/nic_drvs/ However, there are some cards for which Linux
versions of the config utils exist, and they are listed here.
Also, Donald has written a few small card diagnostic programs that run
under Linux. Most of these are a result of debugging tools that he has
created while writing the various drivers. Don't expect fancy menu-
driven interfaces. You will have to read the source code to use most
of these. Even if your particular card doesn't have a corresponding
diagnostic, you can still get lots of information just by typing cat
/proc/net/dev -- assuming that your card was at least detected at
boot.
In either case, you will have to run most of these programs as root
(to allow I/O to the ports) and you probably want to shut down the
ethercard before doing so by typing ifconfig eth0 down (Note: replace
eth0 with atp0 or whatever when appropriate.)
6.1. Configuration Programs for Ethernet Cards
For people with wd80x3 cards, there is the program wdsetup which can
be found in wdsetup-0.6a.tar.gz on Linux ftp sites. I am not sure if
it is being actively maintained or not, as it has not been updated for
quite a while. If it works fine for you then great, if not, use the
DOS version that you should have got with your card. If you don't have
the DOS version, you will be glad to know that the SMC setup/driver
disks are available at the dorm.rutgers.edu site mentioned above. Of
course, you have to have an EEPROM card to use this utility. Old, old
wd8003 cards, and some wd8013 clones use jumpers to set up the card
instead.
The Digital EtherWorks 3 card can be configured in a similar fashion
to the DOS program NICSETUP.EXE. David C. Davies wrote this and other
tools for the EtherWorks 3 in conjunction with the driver. Look on
sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/linux/system/Network/management
for the file that is named ewrk3tools-X.XX.tar.gz.
Some Nat Semi DP83905 implementations (such as the AT/LANTIC and the
NE2000+) are software configurable. (Note that this card can also
emulate a wd8013!) You can get the file /pub/linux/setup/atlantic.c
from Donald's ftp server, cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov to configure this card.
Be careful when configuring NE2000+ cards, as you can give them bad
setting values which will require you to open the case and switch a
jumper to force it back to sane settings.
The 3Com Etherlink III family of cards (i.e. 3c5x9) can be configured
by using another config utility from Donald. You can get the file
/pub/linux/setup/3c5x9setup.c from Donald's ftp server,
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov to configure these cards. (Note that the DOS
3c5x9B config utility may have more options pertaining to the new
``B'' series of the Etherlink III family.)
6.2. Diagnostic Programs for Ethernet Cards
Any of the diagnostic programs that Donald has written can be obtained
from this URL.
Ethercard Diagnostics
(http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/linux/diag/diagnostic.html)
Allied Telesis AT1700 -- look for the file /pub/linux/diag/at1700.c on
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Cabletron E21XX -- look for the file /pub/linux/diag/e21.c on
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
HP PCLAN+ -- look for the file /pub/linux/diag/hp+.c on
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Intel EtherExpress -- look for the file /pub/linux/diag/eexpress.c on
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
NE2000 cards -- look for the file /pub/linux/diag/ne2k.c on
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
RealTek (ATP) Pocket adaptor -- look for the file /pub/linux/diag/atp-
diag.c on cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
All Other Cards -- try typing cat /proc/net/dev and see what useful
info the kernel has on the card in question.
7. Technical Information
For those who want to play with the present drivers, or try to make up
their own driver for a card that is presently unsupported, this
information should be useful. If you do not fall into this category,
then perhaps you will want to skip this section.
7.1. Probed Addresses
While trying to determine what ethernet card is there, the following
addresses are autoprobed, assuming the type and specs of the card have
not been set in the kernel. The file names below are in
/usr/src/linux/drivers/net/
______________________________________________________________________
3c501.c 0x280, 0x300
3c503.c: 0x300, 0x310, 0x330, 0x350, 0x250, 0x280, 0x2a0, 0x2e0
3c505.c: 0x300, 0x280, 0x310
3c507.c: 0x300, 0x320, 0x340, 0x280
3c509.c: Special ID Port probe
apricot.c 0x300
at1700.c: 0x300, 0x280, 0x380, 0x320, 0x340, 0x260, 0x2a0, 0x240
atp.c: 0x378, 0x278, 0x3bc
depca.c 0x300, 0x200
de600.c: 0x378
de620.c: 0x378
eexpress.c: 0x300, 0x270, 0x320, 0x340
hp.c: 0x300, 0x320, 0x340, 0x280, 0x2C0, 0x200, 0x240
hp-plus.c 0x200, 0x240, 0x280, 0x2C0, 0x300, 0x320, 0x340
lance.c: 0x300, 0x320, 0x340, 0x360
ne.c: 0x300, 0x280, 0x320, 0x340, 0x360
ni52.c 0x300, 0x280, 0x360, 0x320, 0x340
ni65.c 0x300, 0x320, 0x340, 0x360
smc-ultra.c: 0x200, 0x220, 0x240, 0x280, 0x300, 0x340, 0x380
wd.c: 0x300, 0x280, 0x380, 0x240
______________________________________________________________________
There are some NE2000 clone ethercards out there that are waiting
black holes for autoprobe drivers. While many NE2000 clones are safe
until they are enabled, some can't be reset to a safe mode. These
dangerous ethercards will hang any I/O access to their `dataports'.
The typical dangerous locations are:
______________________________________________________________________
Ethercard jumpered base Dangerous locations (base + 0x10 - 0x1f)
0x300 * 0x310-0x317
0x320 0x330-0x337
0x340 0x350-0x357
0x360 0x370-0x377
______________________________________________________________________
* The 0x300 location is the traditional place to put an ethercard, but
it's also a popular place to put other devices (often SCSI
controllers). The 0x320 location is often the next one chosen, but
that's bad for for the AHA1542 driver probe. The 0x360 location is
bad, because it conflicts with the parallel port at 0x378. If you
have two IDE controllers, or two floppy controlers, then 0x360 is also
a bad choice, as a NE2000 card will clobber them as well.
Note that kernels > 1.1.7X keep a log of who uses which i/o ports, and
will not let a driver use i/o ports registered by an earlier driver.
This may result in probes silently failing. You can view who is using
what i/o ports by typing cat /proc/ioports if you have the proc
filesystem enabled.
To avoid these lurking ethercards, here are the things you can do:
o Probe for the device's BIOS in memory space. This is easy and
always safe, but it only works for cards that always have BIOSes,
like primary SCSI controllers.
o Avoid probing any of the above locations until you think you've
located your device. The NE2000 clones have a reset range from
<base>+0x18 to <base>+0x1f that will read as 0xff, so probe there
first if possible. It's also safe to probe in the 8390 space at
<base>+0x00 - <base>+0x0f, but that area will return quasi-random
values
o If you must probe in the dangerous range, for instance if your
target device has only a few port locations, first check that there
isn't an NE2000 there. You can see how to do this by looking at the
probe code in /usr/src/linux/net/inet/ne.c
o Use the `reserve' boot time argument to protect volatile areas from
being probed. See the information on using boot time arguments with
LILO in ``The reserve command''
7.2. Skeleton / prototype driver
OK. So you have decided that you want to write a driver for the Foobar
Ethernet card, as you have the programming information, and it hasn't
been done yet. (...these are the two main requirements ;-) You can use
the skeleton network driver that is provided with the Linux kernel
source tree. It can be found in the file
/usr/src/linux/drivers/net/skeleton.c as of 0.99pl15, and later.
It's also very useful to look at the Crynwr (nee Clarkson) driver for
your target ethercard, if it's available. Russ Nelson
nelson@crynwr.com has been actively updating and writing these, and he
has been very helpful with his code reviews of the current Linux
drivers.
7.3. Driver interface to the kernel
Here are some notes that may help when trying to figure out what the
code in the driver segments is doing, or perhaps what it is supposed
to be doing.
______________________________________________________________________
int ethif_init(struct device *dev)
{
...
dev->send_packet = &ei_send_packet;
dev->open = &ei_open;
dev->stop = &ei_close;
dev->hard_start_xmit = &ei_start_xmit;
...
}
int ethif_init(struct device *dev)
______________________________________________________________________
This function is put into the device structure in Space.c. It is
called only at boot time, and returns `0' iff the ethercard `dev'
exists.
______________________________________________________________________
static int ei_open(struct device *dev)
static int ei_close(struct device *dev)
______________________________________________________________________
This routine opens and initializes the board in response to an socket
ioctl() usually called by `ifconfig'. It is commonly stuffed into the
`struct device' by ethif_init().
The inverse routine is ei_close(), which should shut down the
ethercard, free the IRQs and DMA channels if the hardware permits, and
turn off anything that will save power (like the transceiver).
______________________________________________________________________
static int ei_start_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct device *dev)
dev->hard_start_xmit = &ei_start_xmit;
______________________________________________________________________
This routine puts packets to be transmitted into the hardware. It is
usually stuffed into the `struct device' by ethif_init().
When the hardware can't accept additional packets it should set the
dev->tbusy flag. When additional room is available, usually during a
transmit-complete interrupt, dev->tbusy should be cleared and the
higher levels informed with mark_bh(INET_BH).
______________________________________________________________________
if (dev_rint(buffer, length, is_skb ? IN_SKBUFF : 0, dev))
stats->rx_dropped++;
______________________________________________________________________
A received packet is passed to the higher levels using dev_rint(). If
the unadorned packet data in a memory buffer, dev_rint will copy it
into a `skbuff' for you. Otherwise a new skbuff should be kmalloc()ed,
filled, and passed to dev_rint() with the IN_SKBUFF flag.
______________________________________________________________________
int s=socket(AF_INET,SOCK_PACKET,htons(ETH_P_ALL));
______________________________________________________________________
Gives you a socket receving every protocol type. Do recvfrom() calls
to it and it will fill the sockaddr with device type in sa_family and
the device name in the sa_data array. I don't know who originally
invented SOCK_PACKET for Linux (its been in for ages) but its superb
stuff. You can use it to send stuff raw too (both only as root).
7.4. Interrupts and Linux
There are two kinds of interrupt handlers in Linux: fast ones and slow
ones. You decide what kind you are installing by the flags you pass to
irqaction(). The fast ones, such as the serial interrupt handler, run
with _all_ interrupts disabled. The normal interrupt handlers, such as
the one for ethercard drivers, runs with other interrupts enabled.
There is a two-level interrupt structure. The `fast' part handles the
device register, removes the packets, and perhaps sets a flag. After
it is done, and interrupts are re-enabled, the slow part is run if the
flag is set.
The flag between the two parts is set by:
mark_bh(INET_BH);
Usually this flag is set within dev_rint() during a received-packet
interrupt, and set directly by the device driver during a transmit-
complete interrupt.
You might wonder why all interrupt handlers cannot run in `normal
mode' with other interrupts enabled. Ross Biro uses this scenario to
illustrate the problem:
o You get a serial interrupt, and start processing it. The serial
interrupt is now masked.
o You get a network interrupt, and you start transferring a maximum-
sized 1500 byte packet from the card.
o Another character comes in, but this time the interrupts are
masked!
The `fast' interrupt structure solves this problem by allowing
bounded-time interrupt handlers to run without the risk of leaving
their interrupt lines masked by another interrupt request.
There is an additional distinction between fast and slow interrupt
handlers -- the arguments passed to the handler. A `slow' handler is
defined as
______________________________________________________________________
static void
handle_interrupt(int reg_ptr)
{
int irq = -(((struct pt_regs *)reg_ptr)->orig_eax+2);
struct device *dev = irq2dev_map[irq];
...
______________________________________________________________________
While a fast handler gets the interrupt number directly
______________________________________________________________________
static void
handle_fast_interrupt(int irq)
{
...
______________________________________________________________________
A final aspect of network performance is latency. The only board that
really addresses this is the 3c509, which allows a predictive
interrupt to be posted. It provides an interrupt response timer so
that the driver can fine-tune how early an interrupt is generated.
Alan Cox has some advice for anyone wanting to write drivers that are
to be used with 0.99pl14 kernels and newer. He says:
`Any driver intended for 0.99pl14 should use the new alloc_skb() and
kfree_skbmem() functions rather than using kmalloc() to obtain a
sk_buff. The new 0.99pl14 skeleton does this correctly. For drivers
wishing to remain compatible with both sets the define
`HAVE_ALLOC_SKB' indicates these functions must be used.
In essence replace
skb=(struct sk_buff *)kmalloc(size)
with
skb=alloc_skb(size)
and
kfree_s(skb,size)
with
kfree_skbmem(skb,size) /* Only sk_buff memory though */
Any questions should I guess be directed to me (Alan Cox) since I made
the change. This is a change to allow tracking of sk_buff's and
sanity checks on buffers and stack behaviour. If a driver produces the
message'File: ??? Line: ??? passed a non skb!' then it is probable the
driver is not using the new sk_buff allocators.'
7.5. Programmed I/O vs. Shared Memory vs. DMA
Ethernet is 10Mbs. (Don't be pedantic, 3Mbs and 100Mbs don't count.)
If you can already send and receive back-to-back packets, you just
can't put more bits over the wire. Every modern ethercard can receive
back-to-back packets. The Linux DP8390 drivers come pretty close to
sending back-to-back packets (depending on the current interrupt
latency) and the 3c509 and AT1500 hardware has no problem at all
automatically sending back-to-back packets.
The ISA bus can do 5.3MB/sec (42Mb/sec), which sounds like more than
enough. You can use that bandwidth in several ways:
7.5.1. Programmed I/O
Pro: Doesn't use any constrained system resources, just a few I/O
registers, and has no 16M limit.
Con: Usually the slowest transfer rate, the CPU is waiting the whole
time, and interleaved packet access is usually difficult to
impossible.
7.5.2. Shared memory
Pro: Simple, faster than programmed I/O, and allows random access to
packets.
Con: Uses up memory space (a big one for DOS users, only a minor issue
under Linux), and it still ties up the CPU.
7.5.3. Slave (normal) Direct Memory Access
Pro: Frees up the CPU during the actual data transfer.
Con: Checking boundary conditions, allocating contiguous buffers, and
programming the DMA registers makes it the slowest of all techniques.
It also uses up a scarce DMA channel, and requires aligned low memory
buffers.
7.5.4. Master Direct Memory Access (bus-master)
Pro: Frees up the CPU during the data transfer, can string together
buffers, can require little or no CPU time lost on the ISA bus.
Con: Requires low-memory buffers and a DMA channel. Any bus-master
will have problems with other bus-masters that are bus-hogs, such as
some primitive SCSI adaptors. A few badly-designed motherboard
chipsets have problems with bus-masters. And a reason for not using
any type of DMA device is using a Cyrix 486 processor designed for
plug-in replacement of a 386: these processors must flush their cache
with each DMA cycle. (This includes the Cx486DLC, Ti486DLC, Cx486SLC,
Ti486SLC, etc.)
7.6. Programming the Intel chips (i82586 and i82593)
These chips are used on a number of cards, namely the 3c507 ('86), the
Intel EtherExpress 16 ('86), Microdyne's exos205t ('86), the Z-Note
('93), and the Racal-Interlan ni5210 ('86).
Russ Nelson writes: `Most boards based on the 82586 can reuse quite a
bit of their code. More, in fact, than the 8390-based adapters. There
are only three differences between them:
o The code to get the Ethernet address,
o The code to trigger CA on the 82586, and
o The code to reset the 82586.
The Intel EtherExpress 16 is an exception, as it I/O maps the 82586.
Yes, I/O maps it. Fairly clunky, but it works.
Garrett Wollman did an AT&T driver for BSD that uses the BSD
copyright. The latest version I have (Sep '92) only uses a single
transmit buffer. You can and should do better than this if you've got
the memory. The AT&T and 3c507 adapters do; the ni5210 doesn't.
The people at Intel gave me a very big clue on how you queue up
multiple transmit packets. You set up a list of NOP-> XMIT-> NOP->
XMIT-> NOP-> XMIT-> beginning) blocks, then you set the `next' pointer
of all the NOP blocks to themselves. Now you start the command unit on
this chain. It continually processes the first NOP block. To transmit
a packet, you stuff it into the next transmit block, then point the
NOP to it. To transmit the next packet, you stuff the next transmit
block and point the previous NOP to it. In this way, you don't have to
wait for the previous transmit to finish, you can queue up multiple
packets without any ambiguity as to whether it got accepted, and you
can avoid the command unit start-up delay.'
7.7. Technical information from 3Com
From: Cameron Spitzer 764-6339 <camerons@nad.3com.com > Subject: getting 3Com Adapter manuals
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 21:17:07 +0200
Since this is becoming a FAQ, I'm going to tread the thin ice of No
Commercial Use and answer it here.
3Com's Ethernet Adapters are documented for driver writers in our
`Technical References' (TRs). These manuals describe the programmer
interfaces to the boards but they don't talk about the diagnostics,
installation programs, etc that end users can see.
The Network Adapter Division marketing department has the TRs to give
away. To keep this program efficient, we centralized it in a thing
called `CardFacts.' CardFacts is an automated phone system. You call
it with a touch-tone phone and it faxes you stuff. To get a TR, call
CardFacts at 408-727-7021. Ask it for Developer's Order Form, document
number 9070. Have your fax number ready when you call. Fill out the
order form and fax it to 408-764-5004. Manuals are shipped by Federal
Express 2nd Day Service.
If you don't have a fax and nobody you know has a fax, really and
truly, then send mail to Terry_Murphy@3Mail.3Com.com and tell her
about your problem. PLEASE use the fax thing if you possibly can.
After you get a manual, if you still can't figure out how to program
the board, try our `CardBoard' BBS at 1-800-876-3266, and if you can't
do that, write Andy_Chan@3Mail.3com.com and ask him for alternatives.
If you have a real stumper that nobody has figured out yet, the fellow
who needs to know about it is Steve_Lebus@3Mail.3com.com.
There are people here who think we are too free with the manuals, and
they are looking for evidence that the system is too expensive, or
takes too much time and effort. That's why it's important to try to
use CardFacts before you start calling and mailing the people I named
here.
There are even people who think we should be like Diamond and Xircom,
requiring tight `partnership' with driver writers to prevent poorly
performing drivers from getting written. So far, 3Com customers have
been really good about this, and there's no problem with the level of
requests we've been getting. We need your continued cooperation and
restraint to keep it that way.
Cameron Spitzer, 408-764-6339 3Com NAD Santa Clara work:
camerons@nad.3com.com home: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us
7.8. Notes on AMD PCnet / LANCE Based cards
The AMD LANCE (Local Area Network Controller for Ethernet) was the
original offering, and has since been replaced by the `PCnet-ISA'
chip, otherwise known as the 79C960. A relatively new chip from AMD,
the 79C960, is the heart of many new cards being released at present.
Note that the name `LANCE' has stuck, and some people will refer to
the new chip by the old name. Dave Roberts of the Network Products
Division of AMD was kind enough to contribute the following
information regarding this chip:
`As for the architecture itself, AMD developed it originally and
reduced it to a single chip -- the PCnet(tm)-ISA -- over a year ago.
It's been selling like hotcakes ever since.
Functionally, it is equivalent to a NE1500. The register set is
identical to the old LANCE with the 1500/2100 architecture additions.
Older 1500/2100 drivers will work on the PCnet-ISA. The NE1500 and
NE2100 architecture is basically the same. Initially Novell called it
the 2100, but then tried to distinguish between coax and 10BASE-T
cards. Anything that was 10BASE-T only was to be numbered in the 1500
range. That's the only difference.
Many companies offer PCnet-ISA based products, including HP, Racal-
Datacom, Allied Telesis, Boca Research, Kingston Technology, etc. The
cards are basically the same except that some manufacturers have added
`jumperless' features that allow the card to be configured in
software. Most have not. AMD offers a standard design package for a
card that uses the PCnet-ISA and many manufacturers use our design
without change. What this means is that anybody who wants to write
drivers for most PCnet-ISA based cards can just get the data-sheet
from AMD. Call our literature distribution center at (800)222-9323 and
ask for the Am79C960, PCnet-ISA data sheet. It's free.
A quick way to understand whether the card is a `stock' card is to
just look at it. If it's stock, it should just have one large chip on
it, a crystal, a small IEEE address PROM, possibly a socket for a boot
ROM, and a connector (1, 2, or 3, depending on the media options
offered). Note that if it's a coax card, it will have some transceiver
stuff built onto it as well, but that should be near the connector and
away from the PCnet-ISA.'
There is also some info regarding the LANCE chip in the file lance.c
which is included in the standard kernel.
A note to would-be card hackers is that different LANCE
implementations do `restart' in different ways. Some pick up where
they left off in the ring, and others start right from the beginning
of the ring, as if just initialised. This is a concern when setting
the multicast list.
7.9. Multicast and Promiscuous Mode
Another one of the things Donald has worked on is implementing
multicast and promiscuous mode hooks. All of the released (i.e. not
ALPHA) ISA drivers now support promiscuous mode. There was a minor
problem with 8390 based cards with capturing multicast packets, in
that the promiscuous mode setting in 8390.c around line 574 should be
0x18 and not 0x10. If you have an up to date kernel, this will already
be fixed.
Donald writes: `At first I was planning to do it while implementing
either the /dev/* or DDI interface, but that's not really the correct
way to do it. We should only enable multicast or promiscuous modes
when something wants to look at the packets, and shut it down when
that application is finished, neither of which is strongly related to
when the hardware is opened or released.
I'll start by discussing promiscuous mode, which is conceptually easy
to implement. For most hardware you only have to set a register bit,
and from then on you get every packet on the wire. Well, it's almost
that easy; for some hardware you have to shut the board (potentially
dropping a few packet), reconfigure it, and then re-enable the
ethercard. This is grungy and risky, but the alternative seems to be
to have every application register before you open the ethercard at
boot-time.
OK, so that's easy, so I'll move on something that's not quite so
obvious: Multicast. It can be done two ways:
1. Use promiscuous mode, and a packet filter like the Berkeley packet
filter (BPF). The BPF is a pattern matching stack language, where
you write a program that picks out the addresses you are interested
in. Its advantage is that it's very general and programmable. Its
disadvantage is that there is no general way for the kernel to
avoid turning on promiscuous mode and running every packet on the
wire through every registered packet filter. See ``The Berkeley
Packet Filter'' for more info.
2. Using the built-in multicast filter that most etherchips have.
I guess I should list what a few ethercards/chips provide:
Chip/card Promiscuous Multicast filter
----------------------------------------
Seeq8001/3c501 Yes Binary filter (1)
3Com/3c509 Yes Binary filter (1)
8390 Yes Autodin II six bit hash (2) (3)
LANCE Yes Autodin II six bit hash (2) (3)
i82586 Yes Hidden Autodin II six bit hash (2) (4)
1. These cards claim to have a filter, but it's a simple yes/no
`accept all multicast packets', or `accept no multicast packets'.
2. AUTODIN II is the standard ethernet CRC (checksum) polynomial. In
this scheme multicast addresses are hashed and looked up in a hash
table. If the corresponding bit is enabled, this packet is
accepted. Ethernet packets are laid out so that the hardware to do
this is trivial -- you just latch six (usually) bits from the CRC
circuit (needed anyway for error checking) after the first six
octets (the destination address), and use them as an index into the
hash table (six bits -- a 64-bit table).
3. These chips use the six bit hash, and must have the table computed
and loaded by the host. This means the kernel must include the CRC
code.
4. The 82586 uses the six bit hash internally, but it computes the
hash table itself from a list of multicast addresses to accept.
Note that none of these chips do perfect filtering, and we still need
a middle-level module to do the final filtering. Also note that in
every case we must keep a complete list of accepted multicast
addresses to recompute the hash table when it changes.
My first pass at device-level support is detailed in the new outline
driver skeleton.c
It looks like the following:
______________________________________________________________________
#ifdef HAVE_MULTICAST
static void set_multicast_list(struct device *dev, int num_addrs,
void *addrs);
#endif
.
.
ethercard_open() {
...
#ifdef HAVE_MULTICAST
dev->set_multicast_list = &set_multicast_list;
#endif
...
#ifdef HAVE_MULTICAST
/* Set or clear the multicast filter for this adaptor.
num_addrs -- -1 Promiscuous mode, receive all packets
num_addrs -- 0 Normal mode, clear multicast list
num_addrs > 0 Multicast mode, receive normal and
MC packets, and do best-effort filtering.
*/
static void
set_multicast_list(struct device *dev, int num_addrs, void *addrs)
{
...
______________________________________________________________________
Any comments, criticism, etc. are welcome.'
7.10. The Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF)
The general idea of the developers is that the BPF functionality
should not be provided by the kernel, but should be in a (hopefully
little-used) compatibility library.
For those not in the know: BPF (the Berkeley Packet Filter) is an
mechanism for specifying to the kernel networking layers what packets
you are interested in. It's implemented as a specialized stack
language interpreter built into a low level of the networking code. An
application passes a program written in this language to the kernel,
and the kernel runs the program on each incoming packet. If the kernel
has multiple BPF applications, each program is run on each packet.
The problem is that it's difficult to deduce what kind of packets the
application is really interested in from the packet filter program, so
the general solution is to always run the filter. Imagine a program
that registers a BPF program to pick up a low data-rate stream sent to
a multicast address. Most ethernet cards have a hardware multicast
address filter implemented as a 64 entry hash table that ignores most
unwanted multicast packets, so the capability exists to make this a
very inexpensive operation. But with the BFP the kernel must switch
the interface to promiscuous mode, receive _all_ packets, and run them
through this filter. This is work, BTW, that's very difficult to
account back to the process requesting the packets.
8. Networking with a Laptop/Notebook Computer
There are currently only a few ways to put your laptop on a network.
You can use the SLIP code (and run at serial line speeds); you can buy
one of the few laptops that come with a NE2000-compatible ethercard;
you can get a notebook with a supported PCMCIA slot built-in; you can
get a laptop with a docking station and plug in an ISA ethercard; or
you can use a parallel port Ethernet adapter such as the D-Link
DE-600.
8.1. Using SLIP
This is the cheapest solution, but by far the most difficult. Also,
you will not get very high transmission rates. Since SLIP is not
really related to ethernet cards, it will not be discussed further
here. See the NET-2 Howto.
8.2. Built in NE2000
This solution severely limits your laptop choices and is fairly
expensive. Be sure to read the specifications carefully, as you may
find that you will have to buy an additional non-standard transceiver
to actually put the machine on a network. A good idea might be to boot
the notebook with a kernel that has ne2000 support, and make sure it
gets detected and works before you lay down your cash.
8.3. PCMCIA Support
As this area of Linux development is fairly young, I'd suggest that
you join the LAPTOPS mailing channel. See ``Mailing lists...'' which
describes how to join a mailing list channel.
Try and determine exactly what hardware you have (ie. card
manufacturer, PCMCIA chip controller manufacturer) and then ask on the
LAPTOPS channel. Regardless, don't expect things to be all that
simple. Expect to have to fiddle around a bit, and patch kernels,
etc. Maybe someday you will be able to type `make config' 8-)
At present, the two PCMCIA chipsets that are supported are the
Databook TCIC/2 and the intel i82365.
There is a number of programs on tsx-11.mit.edu in
/pub/linux/packages/laptops/ that you may find useful. These range
from PCMCIA Ethercard drivers to programs that communicate with the
PCMCIA controller chip. Note that these drivers are usually tied to a
specific PCMCIA chip (ie. the intel 82365 or the TCIC/2)
For NE2000 compatible cards, some people have had success with just
configuring the card under DOS, and then booting linux from the DOS
command prompt via loadlin.
For those that are net-surfing you can try:
Don's PCMCIA Stuff (http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/pcmcia.html)
Anyway, the PCMCIA driver problem isn't specific to the Linux world.
It's been a real disaster in the MS-DOS world. In that world people
expect the hardware to work if they just follow the manual. They
might not expect it to interoperate with any other hardware or
software, or operate optimally, but they do expect that the software
shipped with the product will function. Many PCMCIA adaptors don't
even pass this test.
Things are looking up for Linux users that want PCMCIA support, as
substantial progress is being made. Pioneering this effort is David
Hinds. His latest PCMCIA support package can be obtained from cb-
iris.stanford.edu in the directory /pub/pcmcia/. Look for a file like
pcmcia-cs-X.Y.Z.tgz where X.Y.Z will be the latest version number.
This is most likely uploaded to tsx-11.mit.edu as well.
Note that Donald's PCMCIA enabler works as a user-level process, and
David Hinds' is a kernel-level solution. You may be best served by
David's package as it is much more widely used.
8.4. ISA Ethercard in the Docking Station.
Docking stations for laptops typically cost about $250 and provide two
full-size ISA slots, two serial and one parallel port. Most docking
stations are powered off of the laptop's batteries, and a few allow
adding extra batteries in the docking station if you use short ISA
cards. You can add an inexpensive ethercard and enjoy full-speed
ethernet performance.
8.5. Pocket / parallel port adaptors.
The `pocket' ethernet adaptors may also fit your need. Until recently
they actually costed more than a docking station and cheap ethercard,
and most tie you down with a wall-brick power supply. At present, you
can choose from the D-Link, or the RealTek adaptor. Most other
companies, especially Xircom, (see ``Xircom'') treat the programming
information as a trade secret, so support will likely be slow in
coming. (if ever!)
Note that the transfer speed will not be all that great (perhaps
100kB/s tops?) due to the limitations of the parallel port interface.
See ``DE-600 / DE-620'' and ``RealTek'' for supported pocket adaptors.
You can sometimes avoid the wall-brick with the adaptors by buying or
making a cable that draws power from the laptop's keyboard port. (See
``keyboard power'')
9. Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the more frequently asked questions about using Linux
with an Ethernet connection. Some of the more specific questions are
sorted on a `per manufacturer basis'. However, since this document is
basically `old' by the time you get it, any `new' problems will not
appear here instantly. For these, I suggest that you make efficient
use of your newsreader. For example, nn users would type
nn -xX -s'3c'
to get all the news articles in your subscribed list that have `3c' in
the subject. (ie. 3com, 3c509, 3c503, etc.) The moral: Read the man
page for your newsreader.
9.1. Alpha Drivers -- Getting and Using them
I heard that there is an alpha driver available for my card. Where
can I get it?
The newest of the `new' drivers can be found on Donald's new ftp site:
cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov in the /pub/linux/ area. Things change here quite
frequently, so just look around for it. There is still all the stuff
on the old ftp site ftp.super.org in /pub/linux, but this is not being
actively maintained, and hence will be of limited value to most
people.
As of recent v1.1 kernels, the `useable' alpha drivers have been
included in the standard kernel source tree. When running make config
you will be asked if you want to be offered ALPHA test drivers.
Now, if it really is an alpha, or pre-alpha driver, then please treat
it as such. In other words, don't complain because you can't figure
out what to do with it. If you can't figure out how to install it,
then you probably shouldn't be testing it. Also, if it brings your
machine down, don't complain. Instead, send us a well documented bug
report, or even better, a patch!
People reading this while net-surfing may want to check out:
---End of part 2/3---
Technical Details
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 148af7,b1f575d15afc506e X-Google-Attributes: gid148af7,public X-Google-Thread: 10869b,b1f575d15afc506e X-Google-Attributes: gid10869b,public X-Google-Thread: 102b32,b1f575d15afc506e X-Google-Attributes: gid102b32,public X-Google-Thread: 102983,b1f575d15afc506e X-Google-Attributes: gid102983,public X-Google-Thread: 10669a,b1f575d15afc506e X-Google-Attributes: gid10669a,public X-Google-Thread: 1038bf,b1f575d15afc506e X-Google-Attributes: gid1038bf,public From: Paul Gortmaker <gpg109@rsphysse.anu.edu.au> Subject: Linux Ethernet HOWTO (part 2/3) Date: 1995/04/29 Message-ID: <Ethernet-HOWTO.2-9194.799185051@cc.gatech.edu> X-Deja-AN: 101737684 approved: linux-answers@news.ornl.gov (Matt Welsh) sender: gregh@cc.gatech.edu references: <Ethernet-HOWTO.1-9194.799185051@cc.gatech.edu> followup-to: poster summary: Information on Ethernet hardware compatibility for Linux organization: Ministry of Silly Walks keywords: Linux, Ethernet, TCP/IP, NET-2, network newsgroups: comp.os.linux.answers,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.dcoms.lan.ethernet,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking,aus.computers.linux nntp-posting-user: gregh