plain-vanilla ethernet; do brands matter?

Bob Chiodini rchiodin at bellsouth.net
Thu Jun 9 20:58:43 UTC 2005


On Thu, 2005-06-09 at 11:35 -0700, THUFIR HAWAT wrote:
> On 6/9/05, Bob Chiodini <rchiodin at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > On Thu, 2005-06-09 at 04:33 +0100, THUFIR HAWAT wrote:
> > > On 6/9/05, Michael A. Peters <mpeters at mac.com> wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > Chances are slim that any pci nic won't work.
> > >
> > >
> > > I'm looking at:
> > > <http://www.eglobalonline.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=342>
> > >
> > > which seems to match up with:
> > > <http://www.dlink.com/products/support.asp?pid=122&sec=0#drivers>
> > >
> 
> ...
>  
> > This card seems to use the realtek 8139 chipset, as taharka points out
> > in another email these should be avoided.  My experience has been iffy,
> > with regard to performance and autonegotiation did not work correctly
> > with a d-link switch/router.
> > 
> > I agree with taharka concerning the 3-Com cards and add that Intel
> > 10/100 and 1000 cards seem well supported and perform well.
> > 
> > One other thing to keep in mind is that vendors seem to be preserving
> > model numbers while changing the specifics of the devices.  We have seen
> > several USB NICs with the same part/model numbers, but completely
> > different chipsets.  Early models were supported later models were not.
> > The moral of the story is open the box and see what's in it.
> > 
> > Bob...
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> thanks, Bob.  I like the price and there does seem to be a linux
> driver, at least according to D-Link (as far as I can tell).  I'll see
> what the merchant says.  if there's a linux driver that should be
> sufficient.
> 
> -Thufir
> 

Thufir,

The driver referenced on the D-Link site is for the 2.2.x kernel.  Later
kernels all support the 8139 natively.

Just a thought, most times you get just what you pay for.  I paid $4.95
each for two 8139 cards and performance between them, over a crossover
cable was dismal, but one of the boxes ran Windows, so who knows:-)

Bob...




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