From: becker@super.org (Donald J. Becker) Subject: Re: Any chance of 3c501 ethernet drvivers? Date: 10 Mar 1993 14:54:09 GMT
In article <1993Mar10.070606.20576@cs.su.oz.au> linda@cs.su.oz.au (Linda Distributed Language) writes:
>I know these are old cards, and i doubt there are many of them out there, so I
>don't expect there to be any, but i can hope... Are there any problems with
>the fact that an old xt card can only dma to the bottom 1mb of memory? Can the
>drivers for later 3com cards be modified ot would this be very non trivial?
>(I get my linux box this weekend (fingers crossed) and would like a little
>network at home) I am prepared to attempt the required hack, but have no
>experience with driver hacking, or any info on the card. I can learn, I guess...
>Any ideas?
>Thanks,
> David
The 3c501 is unlike the later 3Com ethercards. Old-time readers know
that I feel a need to post a monthly warning about the 3c501, but I'll
keep it short this time:
THE 3C501 IS UNSUITABLE FOR USE IN ANY MODERN NETWORK.
It drops too many packets, and hangs in busy networks. Consider it
the 8088 of the ethercard world.
I have written a Linux 3c501 driver, but out of the dozens of requests
and promises to hack it, not one person has returned a patch or
reasonable bug report.
If you do want to set up a low-cost network, you can get NE2000 clones
for a little over $70 ea. (like from AT-LAN-TEC, 301-948-7070, check
out their low cable prices too). As usual with any computer purchase,
you should state you are using it with Linux and ask if it comes with
Linux drivers or software. We know that it doesn't, but if we keep
asking someday we'll be pleasantly surprised!
-- Donald Becker becker@super.org Supercomputing Research Center 17100 Science Drive, Bowie MD 20715 301-805-7482