Very Computer

Hi ,

Just installed Redhat 6.0.  The HOWTO on Ethernet says the tulip driver
will work with the Etherfast 10/100 cards, with the exception of some
proprietary PNIC chipsets.  Apparently the DEC chipsets work with
tulip.  The Linksys support page doesn't say anything about chipsets,
but simply states the tulip driver works.

Is there another driver for LNE100TX cards?  I do not have the DEC
chipset (The large chip on the card has a Linksys stamp).

I loaded the tulip module (I think) and get the following message when
booting:
'Unknown Tulip-style PCI ethernet chip type 11ad c115 detected: not
configured.'

Any advice?

Thanks

Jeff

[Posted and mailed]

Quote:> Hi ,

> Just installed Redhat 6.0.  The HOWTO on Ethernet says the tulip driver
> will work with the Etherfast 10/100 cards, with the exception of some
> proprietary PNIC chipsets.

The PNIC chipsets are a Tulip clone chipset.  Boards with these chipsets
don't work well with the version of the kernel included with RH 6.0
(though I've seen some reports of success, so perhaps RH patched their
install kernel -- but your experience suggests otherwise).

Quote:> Apparently the DEC chipsets work with
> tulip.  The Linksys support page doesn't say anything about chipsets,
> but simply states the tulip driver works.

The LinkSys site includes the updated Tulip drivers that work with the
PNIC chipset.

Quote:> Is there another driver for LNE100TX cards?  I do not have the DEC
> chipset (The large chip on the card has a Linksys stamp).

The PNIC chip in the LinkSys board doesn't have "PNIC" on it; it's
silkscreened with LinkSys's name.  (I've also got one of these boards in
one of my computers.  With the updated drivers, Linux does recognize it as
a PNIC chipset.)

Quote:> Any advice?

It sounds like you don't need this for installation, so you need to get
the updated tulip.c file, replace the tulip.c file in a kernel source
tree, recompile, and use the new kernel and/or kernel modules.  This
process is a bit much to explain to a newbie in a newsgroup posting, so I
suggest you get a Linux book that explains kernel compilation and follow
the directions there, after you replace the tulip.c file (it should be in
the /usr/src/linux/drivers/net directory).  Alternatively, you can get
the information you need on kernel compilation from various web sites,
though I don't have any URLs offhand, aside from pointing you at
http://www.linux.org, which will probably have some good links.

If all this is a bit much, you could replace the NIC, but IMHO the kernel
compilation dance is something every Linux user (or administrator,
anyhow, which is often the same thing) should know how to do.  If you go
with replacing the board, the 3COM 3c905b and Intel EtherExpress are both
often recommended, though I've never used either myself.  They're also
relatively expensive boards.  The D-Link DFE-530TX uses the VIA Rhine
chipset, for which Linux drivers do exist in RH 6.0.  This board is less
expensive, but I get the impression it's not a blazing performer in terms
of speed.  I've recently installed one in one of my systems, though, and
it at least works reliably.

--
Rod Smith

http://www.channel1.com/users/rodsmith
NOTE: Remove the "uce" word from my address to mail me

    { "Lite-On LC82C115 PNIC-II",
       0x11AD, 0xc115, 0xffff, PCI_ADDR0_IO, 256, 32, tulip_probe1 },

Found the above in a 'tulip.c:v0.91e 5/27/99'.  So i belive a updatet
driver will do..

        Support and updates available at
        http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/tulip.html

Mvh Vidar Andresen

I'm curious, I'm running RH5.2 and will be updating some to RH6.0
soon.  I've been using Linksys since the first 10/100's came out,
I've got DEC's, PNIC's and Linksys's, They all work fine with the
stock RH5.2 tulip (tulip.c:v0.89H).  Any specifics on the
RH6.0/tulip issue??  Point me in a direction.

I've got them running in everything, Win(NT,95,98), Novell 3 and
4, RH5.2 without a hitch, I hate the thought of having to use
something different for RH6.0.

One of the LinkSys marked chips that requires a ROM update for a
redetection problem with Win98.  Is this the problem child? ROM
upgrade ROMUP.EXE (for LINKSYS chip (168 version))
http://www.linksys.com/scripts/dlc.asp

--
http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Node/5918/

[Posted and mailed]

If by this last you mean that you have boards with chips marked "DEC,"
"PNIC," and "Linksys," the ones that are marked "Linksys" are really PNIC
chips -- check your kernel startup messages for confirmation of this.

Quote:> They all work fine with the
> stock RH5.2 tulip (tulip.c:v0.89H).  Any specifics on the
> RH6.0/tulip issue??  Point me in a direction.

Most people with PNIC-based boards report that the 0.89H driver does
*NOT* work with their boards, or works unreliably.  Some people (like
you) report that it DOES work with their boards.  It's conceivable that
there's an interaction between the PNIC chipset and some other hardware
component, or that it's a matter of how the BIOS configures the board
(what IRQ it's given, for instance).  I suppose it's also possible that
there are different revisions of the PNIC chipset, or of other components
on the boards, and that some work with 0.89H and others don't.

In any event, Red Hat 6.0 ships with the 0.89H driver, so in theory you
should see no change in network card compatibility if/when you upgrade.
If you do, you can get an updated tulip.c file from
http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/tulip-devel.html, drop it into
your kernel source tree in drivers/net, and recompile the kernel or
modules to get it to work.

Quote:> I've got them running in everything, Win(NT,95,98), Novell 3 and
> 4, RH5.2 without a hitch, I hate the thought of having to use
> something different for RH6.0.

You don't.  While some people have reported an inability to get some Tulip
clones working with Linux even with updated drivers, I've not seen such
reports for the Linksys boards, and in fact I've got one in one of my
systems and it works fine with the updated drivers (I'm using 0.90q, but
there are more recent files than that available now).

Quote:> One of the LinkSys marked chips that requires a ROM update for a
> redetection problem with Win98.  Is this the problem child? ROM
> upgrade ROMUP.EXE (for LINKSYS chip (168 version))
> http://www.linksys.com/scripts/dlc.asp

It is conceivable that the ROM version on the board has something to do
with compatibility with the older Linux drivers, but I can't say for
certain.

--
Rod Smith

http://www.channel1.com/users/rodsmith
NOTE: Remove the "uce" word from my address to mail me
Author of _Special Edition Using WordPerfect for Linux_, from Que;
see http://www.channel1.com/users/rodsmith/books.html