🚀 go-pugleaf

Chris Miles (chris@melws1.rwc.org.au) wrote:

: I'm after any tips on which ethernet cards are recommended, or
: which ones to stay away from.  I will probably just pick up some
: cheapies from a swap meet, but if there are some cards to avoid
: I'd like to be aware of them!

I'd stay away from jumperless cards, for linux, since the configuration
utility is usually only for DOS. ( i dont know if linux has a config
proggy for them) 
If you are after cheap cards you'd probably get an NE2000 clone. 

I found the jumperless ones were $45 when I bought one (isa 16bit), last 
year.  Which I swapped for a Western Digital SMC 8013 card.


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-- mark heath 			| Netspace Online Systems
	mark@crafti.com.au	|
	mheath@netspace.net.au	| +61(0)411 224 397

Mark Heath wrote:
> 
> Chris Miles (chris@melws1.rwc.org.au) wrote:
> 
> : I'm after any tips on which ethernet cards are recommended, or
> : which ones to stay away from.  I will probably just pick up some
> : cheapies from a swap meet, but if there are some cards to avoid
> : I'd like to be aware of them!
> 
> I'd stay away from jumperless cards, for linux, since the configuration
> utility is usually only for DOS. ( i dont know if linux has a config
> proggy for them)
> If you are after cheap cards you'd probably get an NE2000 clone.
> 
> I found the jumperless ones were $45 when I bought one (isa 16bit), last
> year.  Which I swapped for a Western Digital SMC 8013 card.

I agree with your recommendation of an NE2000 clone.  I use them in
my machines at home (also running a combo of Windoze and Linux).  
The boffins might argue that the 3COM or WD cards could give you 
slightly better throughput.  I have opted for the lower price and the
universal availability of drivers.

On the subject of the jumperless cards, I found the easiest solution
to this was to create a DOS boot disk and copy the manufacturers
config program onto it.  You only ever need it once in a blue moon.
If you were really paranoid you could keep an image of the floppy
in Linux, and dd it to any old floppy if needed.

Gaz

========================================================================
 Gary R Curtis                      mailto:opus.logic@mailbox.uq.edu.au
 Brisbane,  Queensland,  Australia             mailto:gaz@humbug.org.au
========================================================================

|>If you are after cheap cards you'd probably get an NE2000 clone. 
|
|They don't work. NE2000 for some reason is an unreliable card interface. I
|had one once and it caused the Linux box to lock up at random. The word
|from Alan Cox was to stay clear of NE2000. This particular card was a
|multi-interface card (I bought it ages ago especially so I could change
|standards if there was some problem with Linux) and when I swapped to
|use WD80x3 emulation it worked fine (nearly as well as the 3com cards).

This info is probably old. After Paul Gortmaker finished cleaning it up
by about 1.2.13 the NE2000 was much more reliable than before. It's
still most commonly mentioned as having problems on news but that may
be because it's the most common NIC sold.

I have used several original NE2000s and clones since 1.2.13 and
haven't had lockups due to the card. It's not the best interface
(programmed I/O rather than shared memory or busmastering), but for
light use, it's fine.

Mark Heath (mheath@netspace.net.au) wrote:
> Chris Miles (chris@melws1.rwc.org.au) wrote:

> : I'm after any tips on which ethernet cards are recommended, or
> : which ones to stay away from.  I will probably just pick up some
> : cheapies from a swap meet, but if there are some cards to avoid
> : I'd like to be aware of them!

> I'd stay away from jumperless cards, for linux, since the configuration
> utility is usually only for DOS. ( i dont know if linux has a config
> proggy for them) 
> If you are after cheap cards you'd probably get an NE2000 clone. 

> I found the jumperless ones were $45 when I bought one (isa 16bit), last 
> year.  Which I swapped for a Western Digital SMC 8013 card.

I bought a pair of Plug & Pray NE2000 cards recently. I made sure the dealer
would refund my money if they did not work under Linux before i bought them.

I did need to run the MSDOS diagnostic program to set them up and after that
they have worked fine in both my machines - a 486/33 isa and a Cyrix 686/P150
on a HX motherboard running 2.0.29.  isapnptools is essential to configuring
the card on the PCI bus. I don't do anything fancy, just play with nfs, telnet
httpd, etc.

regards,
       warrick.

nick@zeta.org.au (Nick Andrew) writes:

> In <5gqf4r$p0o$1@otis.netspace.net.au> mheath@netspace.net.au (Mark Heath) writes:
> >If you are after cheap cards you'd probably get an NE2000 clone. 
> 
> They don't work. NE2000 for some reason is an unreliable card
> interface.

I have got 3 NE3000 clones - no problems.

However, Linux has difficulty detecting NE2000 cards, but that is
easily fixed with `append="ether=11,0x240,eth0"' (or whatever is
appropriate for you) in lilo.conf

-- 
Manfred Bartz <mbartz@werple.net.au>

In <5gqf4r$p0o$1@otis.netspace.net.au> mheath@netspace.net.au (Mark Heath) writes:

>I'd stay away from jumperless cards, for linux, since the configuration
>utility is usually only for DOS. ( i dont know if linux has a config
>proggy for them) 

I use 3c509 cards (jumperless). Yes, they do have to be programmed once,
from DOS, but that's all. They work.

>If you are after cheap cards you'd probably get an NE2000 clone. 

They don't work. NE2000 for some reason is an unreliable card interface. I
had one once and it caused the Linux box to lock up at random. The word
from Alan Cox was to stay clear of NE2000. This particular card was a
multi-interface card (I bought it ages ago especially so I could change
standards if there was some problem with Linux) and when I swapped to
use WD80x3 emulation it worked fine (nearly as well as the 3com cards).

Nick.
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