Very Computer

I recently got a second Intel-based PC. Like the first, it has a 10/100
Ethernet card, so it seemed like a good idea to replace my 10BaseT
mini-hub with a 10/100 mini-hub (a D-Link DSH-5) so that I could get a
fast connection between the two machines. Bad idea!

The new card (a 3com 3C905-TXM) works fine with the new hub, but the old
card (a D-Link DFE-500TX) won't talk to it at any speed. This card, which
uses the tulip driver and is *supposed* to be a 10/100 card, works fine
with the old 10BaseT hub.

On the old machine, I am currently using kernel 2.2.19 (Debian 2.2) with
the 0.91g tulip driver. I attempted to compile a new kernel with the
latest tulip driver (0.94, I think), but I got all sorts of errors.

It seems to me that I have two options. Either figure out how to tell the
card to talk to the hub at 100 Mbs (assuming that the failure occurs when
they are trying to negotiate a speed), or get a new card. The information
at  http://www.scyld.com/network/tulip.html suggests that I can pass a
media type to the driver, but I have no idea which one to pass (there are
about 10 variants of 100BaseT, such as 100baseTx, MII 100baseT4, and so
on). Does anyone know what would be appropriate?

The second option is to buy a new network card. The 3com is known to work,
but it is ridiculously expensive (Can. $129). Can anyone suggest a cheap
10/100 card that works reliably at 100 Mbs with a 2.2 kernel?

Thanks in advance.
--
James MacKinnon
Dept. of Economics
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Quote:> I recently got a second Intel-based PC. Like the first, it has a 10/100
> Ethernet card, so it seemed like a good idea to replace my 10BaseT
> mini-hub with a 10/100 mini-hub (a D-Link DSH-5) so that I could get a
> fast connection between the two machines. Bad idea!

> The new card (a 3com 3C905-TXM) works fine with the new hub, but the old
> card (a D-Link DFE-500TX) won't talk to it at any speed. This card, which
> uses the tulip driver and is *supposed* to be a 10/100 card, works fine
> with the old 10BaseT hub.

> On the old machine, I am currently using kernel 2.2.19 (Debian 2.2) with
> the 0.91g tulip driver. I attempted to compile a new kernel with the
> latest tulip driver (0.94, I think), but I got all sorts of errors.

Try using "old_tulip" module snd see if that works any better.  I have a
Netgear FA310TX with tulip based chip.  With that tulip module in newer
2.2.x kernels it would not work until another nic contacted it.  But with
the old_tulip (0.89 something) it works fine.  A 2.2.19 kernel should have
both modules.

It also gave me trouble with 2.4.0 tulip (stopped responding overnight),
but it is a headless box and I have not had a chance to experiment with
newer 2.4.x kernels on that box.

--
David Efflandt - All spam ignored
http://www.autox.chicago.il.us/  http://www.berniesfloral.net/
http://www.nsscc.com/ - free driver school Friday nights in March

i have the d-link dfe-500tx with the dec tulip 21140 chip.  i think
it's rev a, ab or something like that.  anyhow, it works fine for me
even with the newer driver.

i did have some trouble with linux drivers since 2.4.4 kernel and a
DEC DE500 (also with 21140 chip but *no* MII transceiver).  it
couldn't be induced to do full duplex.  also a DEC DE450 with 10baseT
21041 chip stopped working altogether with the tulip driver.  the
de4x5 drive does work fine with both cards (but no full duplex on the
DE500).  there seems to be such a profusion of tulip and near clones
that fixing the driver to support one will break some other card.
sigh.

Quote:> On the old machine, I am currently using kernel 2.2.19 (Debian 2.2) with
> the 0.91g tulip driver. I attempted to compile a new kernel with the
> latest tulip driver (0.94, I think), but I got all sorts of errors.

> It seems to me that I have two options. Either figure out how to tell the
> card to talk to the hub at 100 Mbs (assuming that the failure occurs when
> they are trying to negotiate a speed), or get a new card. The information
> at  http://www.scyld.com/network/tulip.html suggests that I can pass a
> media type to the driver, but I have no idea which one to pass (there are
> about 10 variants of 100BaseT, such as 100baseTx, MII 100baseT4, and so
> on). Does anyone know what would be appropriate?

you can try the tulip-diag program available at scyld.

Quote:> The second option is to buy a new network card. The 3com is known to work,
> but it is ridiculously expensive (Can. $129). Can anyone suggest a cheap
> 10/100 card that works reliably at 100 Mbs with a 2.2 kernel?

i recently picked up a 3com 905b at a computer show for USD 20.  it
works fine for me.

--
J o h a n  K u l l s t a m

sysengr