Ethernet Adapters that actually work!

[Dave Gomez (rvlr40)]

Martin,
    They aren't really that old, but only recently, last 2 weeks, has the driver
been updated, with bug fixes that have capped a fairly reliable solution.  The
latest version is 0.91m, and it works nicely with the Asante 10/100, and also with
a Netgear 10/100 FA310TX.  They do have to be built as modules, but work with
2.2.6 & 2.2.10, and I believe on the 2.3.X, you can build it right in instead of a
module, just update the specified source files.

dave

Martin Costabel wrote:

> Kazumitsu Hanai wrote (not for the first time):
>
> > All ethernet cards, the chipsets of which are DEC 21*4*, will work with tulip
> > driver in LinuxPPC.  *BUT*, be careful, the tulip driver contained in the
> > kernel
> > source, even the latest, is very old, and this driver does not work in
> > LinuxPPC
> > at all.  You must download the latest tulip.c, or at least newer than v0.91
>
> Is there a known reason why the kernel sources contain a stone-age
> version of tulip.c? Is everyone supposed to use de4x5 instead or what?
> (I can confirm that for my Farallon card with its DECchip 21041, both
> de4x5 from the kernel sources and tulip.c:v0.91 from the site given by
> Kazumitsu Hanai are working. The Neanderthal tulip.c from the kernel
> sources doesn't).
>
> From the 2.3.18 kernel in drivers/net/tulip.c:
>
>   static const char version[] = "tulip.c:v0.89H 5/23/98
> becker at cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov\n";
>
> That's from the era of kernel version 2.1.103!
>
> Even better is the "information" in Documentation/networking/tulip.txt:
>
>   This driver is designed to work with PCI Ethernet
>   cards which use the DECchip DC21x4x family. This driver hopefully
>   works with all of 1.2.x and 1.3.x kernels, but I tested only
>   with 1.2.13, 1.3.39, 1.3.49, 1.3.52, 1.3.57 and later.
>
> Well, a little later it is honest enough to suggest
>
>   So, if your card is not a 9332dst, please try the de4x5.c driver
> first.
>
> --
> Martin


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