From: becker@super.org (Donald J. Becker) Subject: Re: 3c501 support? Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1993 23:09:34 GMT
>The subject should pretty much speak for itself. I've got a 3Com 3c501
>that I picked up real cheap and was wondering of there are any plans
>to support this board under Linux. I know the FAQ doesn't mention
There are no plans to support the 3c501 under Linux. There is a
reason that you picked it up "real cheap" -- it's worthless. It's the
64K 8088 motherboard of the ethercard world. It's value is doubled
when you put a BNC 'T' connector on it.
>anything about this board, but I've seen several discussions about
>the board on this group and was wondering if anyone has been able
>to make it work.
I failed to post a warning in time, and someone with a batch of 25
3c501 cards managed to sell them here. I feel badly about it because
I had mentioned earlier that I was working on a 3c501 driver, and the
seller implied that Linux supported the 3c501.
With my driver I am able to make the 3c501 work under Linux --
usually for three or four minutes at a time. I think my record was
about 10 minutes. This board has more bugs than a NYC apartment
building, and it is fatally flawed by having a single-access packet
buffer. 3Com switched NIC chips for their later products for a good
reason.
>Or should I just forget it and drop the bucks on a better board?
You can get a NE2000 clone for about $80, or an 8013 clone for under
$100. I know this sounds like some of the "if you can't afford a
486/100 with 2G of SCSI-2 go somewhere else" posts, but these are
entry-level boards for networking.
BTW, it might just be possible to get Linux running on that 8088
motherboard (stuff it with LIM memory, and run a 386 emulator), but
you'll never be able to receive back-to-back packets with the
3c501.
Don
-- Donald Becker becker@super.org Supercomputing Research Center 17100 Science Drive, Bowie MD 21114 301-805-7482