Very Computer

by **Timothy J. L** » Sat, 25 Sep 1999 04:00:00

How does the performance and CPU usage of various PCI NICs compare
using FreeBSD / NetBSD / OpenBSD?

fxp Intel EtherExpress Pro100 / 8255x
xl 3Com 3C90x
de Digital 21140 (old Netgear FA310TX, old Linksys LNE100TX)
ax ASIX 88140 (CNet Pro110B)
mx Macronix or PNIC II (newest Linksys LNE100TX)
pn PNIC (new Netgear FA310TX, some Linksys LNE100TX)
vr Via Rhine
wb WinBond

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by **Yann Rami** » Sun, 26 Sep 1999 04:00:00

I've only been able to compare the xl and fxp drivers and NICs. The
clear choice is fxp (Intel). It uses far less CPU time and works very
well on a switched 100 network.

Yann

> How does the performance and CPU usage of various PCI NICs compare
> using FreeBSD / NetBSD / OpenBSD?

> fxp Intel EtherExpress Pro100 / 8255x
> xl 3Com 3C90x
> de Digital 21140 (old Netgear FA310TX, old Linksys LNE100TX)
> ax ASIX 88140 (CNet Pro110B)
> mx Macronix or PNIC II (newest Linksys LNE100TX)
> pn PNIC (new Netgear FA310TX, some Linksys LNE100TX)
> vr Via Rhine
> wb WinBond

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> Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome. netcom.com
> No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

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Atrus Trivalie Productions www.redshift.com/~yramin
irm.it.montereyhigh.com
Monterey High IT www.montereyhigh.com
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Marina, CA
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by **Steve Burt** » Wed, 29 Sep 1999 04:00:00

Hi,

I've used only Intel and have a 100BaseT full-duplex router running
two of these. The user's don't know it's there because it just works.

Steve.

On Sat, 25 Sep 1999 09:42:37 -0700, Yann Ramin

>I've only been able to compare the xl and fxp drivers and NICs. The
>clear choice is fxp (Intel). It uses far less CPU time and works very
>well on a switched 100 network.

>Yann

>> How does the performance and CPU usage of various PCI NICs compare
>> using FreeBSD / NetBSD / OpenBSD?

>> fxp Intel EtherExpress Pro100 / 8255x
>> xl 3Com 3C90x
>> de Digital 21140 (old Netgear FA310TX, old Linksys LNE100TX)
>> ax ASIX 88140 (CNet Pro110B)
>> mx Macronix or PNIC II (newest Linksys LNE100TX)
>> pn PNIC (new Netgear FA310TX, some Linksys LNE100TX)
>> vr Via Rhine
>> wb WinBond

>> --
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>> Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome. netcom.com
>> No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

>--

>--------------------------------------------------------------------

>Atrus Trivalie Productions www.redshift.com/~yramin
> irm.it.montereyhigh.com
>Monterey High IT www.montereyhigh.com
>ICQ 46805627
>Marina, CA
>--------------------------------------------------------------------

by **Martin We** » Thu, 30 Sep 1999 04:00:00

Quote:> I've used only Intel and have a 100BaseT full-duplex router running
> two of these. The user's don't know it's there because it just works.

We've usually used the DEC 21x4x based cards (de driver) for most
purposes, as they are supported native by FreeBSD, Linux, Windows
in it variants. As they are hard to get these days, we use Intel
EtherExpress Pro 10/100 for server machines and sometimes Via-Rhine
(vr driver) based cards for desktop machines, as they cost a quarter
of the Intel cards, which are about twice as expensive as the DEC
based cards where at last.

We never made any bad experiences with all of them, we always get best
transfer rates while the CPU usage isn't very high.

But we avoid the Realtek chipset based cards.

Regards,

Martin
--
FreibergNet Systemhaus GbR Martin Welk * Sales, Support
Systemhaus fr Daten- und Netzwerktechnik phone +49 3731 781387
Unternehmensgruppe Liebscher & Partner fax +49 3731 781377
D-09599 Freiberg * Am St. Niclas Schacht 13 http://www.freibergnet.de/

by **Sergio Jachtchenc** » Thu, 30 Sep 1999 04:00:00

> > I've used only Intel and have a 100BaseT full-duplex router running
> > two of these. The user's don't know it's there because it just works.

> We've usually used the DEC 21x4x based cards (de driver) for most
> purposes, as they are supported native by FreeBSD, Linux, Windows
> in it variants. As they are hard to get these days, we use Intel
> EtherExpress Pro 10/100 for server machines and sometimes Via-Rhine
> (vr driver) based cards for desktop machines, as they cost a quarter
> of the Intel cards, which are about twice as expensive as the DEC
> based cards where at last.

> We never made any bad experiences with all of them, we always get best
> transfer rates while the CPU usage isn't very high.

> But we avoid the Realtek chipset based cards.

> Regards,

> Martin
> --
> FreibergNet Systemhaus GbR Martin Welk * Sales, Support
> Systemhaus fr Daten- und Netzwerktechnik phone +49 3731 781387
> Unternehmensgruppe Liebscher & Partner fax +49 3731 781377
> D-09599 Freiberg * Am St. Niclas Schacht 13 http://www.freibergnet.de/

About the DEC 21x4x based cards, Linksys produces a very affordable one, the
"ETHERFAST ENET 10/100 PCI LAN CARD ", part number LNE1??TX.

http://www.linksys.com/scripts/features.asp?part=lne100tx

As far as I know they don't really have the original DEC chipset but a
compatible one. They work very well under Linux, about *BSD I had only
checked the true DEC beast.
It sells for less than $31, shipping (inside USA) included, at
www.necx.com.

by **Martin We** » Fri, 01 Oct 1999 04:00:00

Quote:> About the DEC 21x4x based cards, Linksys produces a very affordable one, the
> "ETHERFAST ENET 10/100 PCI LAN CARD ", part number LNE1??TX.

> http://www.linksys.com/scripts/features.asp?part=lne100tx

Are they still available in real life? Sorry for the question, but from
my experiences, most producers and distributors of similar adapters
(D-Link 550TX, Level One also had a DEC-based card) have stopped shipping
them because those DEC/Tulip chips aren't available any more. Or am I
wrong?

Quote:> As far as I know they don't really have the original DEC chipset but a
> compatible one. They work very well under Linux, about *BSD I had only
> checked the true DEC beast.

We had some SMC (DEC 21040, 10 MBit/sec., some dual-port cards), D-Link
530TX (4-port 10/100 with twisted pair connectors, works very fine) and
many many D-Link 550 TX (10/100, TP, DEC 21140 or something the like).

Quote:> It sells for less than $31, shipping (inside USA) included, at
> www.necx.com.

The D-Link 550TX was at last about 45 DEM, which I think isn't more than $25.

Regards,

Martin
--
FreibergNet Systemhaus GbR Martin Welk * Sales, Support
Systemhaus fr Daten- und Netzwerktechnik phone +49 3731 781387
Unternehmensgruppe Liebscher & Partner fax +49 3731 781377
D-09599 Freiberg * Am St. Niclas Schacht 13 http://www.freibergnet.de/

by **Sergio Jachtchenc** » Fri, 01 Oct 1999 04:00:00

> > About the DEC 21x4x based cards, Linksys produces a very affordable one,
the
> > "ETHERFAST ENET 10/100 PCI LAN CARD ", part number LNE1??TX.

> > http://www.linksys.com/scripts/features.asp?part=lne100tx

> Are they still available in real life? Sorry for the question, but from
> my experiences, most producers and distributors of similar adapters
> (D-Link 550TX, Level One also had a DEC-based card) have stopped shipping
> them because those DEC/Tulip chips aren't available any more. Or am I
> wrong?

I remember reading the same someplace else. Linksys uses a compatible
chipset, probably they don't have to rely on DEC anymore. These cards are
available, I've seen them in retail stores here in Miami, and in all major
web stores I tried. (Buycomp, CDW, Warehouse, NECX, etc...). Besides, it
seems Linksys just added WakeUp on LAN feature to these cards. I think these
ones are pretty alive.

Quote:
> > As far as I know they don't really have the original DEC chipset but a
> > compatible one. They work very well under Linux, about *BSD I had only
> > checked the true DEC beast.

> We had some SMC (DEC 21040, 10 MBit/sec., some dual-port cards), D-Link
> 530TX (4-port 10/100 with twisted pair connectors, works very fine) and
> many many D-Link 550 TX (10/100, TP, DEC 21140 or something the like).

I suppose they do work, I pointed it just to be precise.

Quote:> > It sells for less than $31, shipping (inside USA) included, at
> > www.necx.com.

> The D-Link 550TX was at last about 45 DEM, which I think isn't more than
$25.

A real bargain, considering how good this chipset are.

Quote:> Regards,

> Martin
> --
> FreibergNet Systemhaus GbR Martin Welk * Sales, Support
> Systemhaus fr Daten- und Netzwerktechnik phone +49 3731 781387
> Unternehmensgruppe Liebscher & Partner fax +49 3731 781377
> D-09599 Freiberg * Am St. Niclas Schacht 13 http://www.freibergnet.de/

Regards, Sergio Jachtchenco

by **Timothy J. L** » Fri, 01 Oct 1999 04:00:00

|

|>
|> > About the DEC 21x4x based cards, Linksys produces a very affordable one,
|the
|> > "ETHERFAST ENET 10/100 PCI LAN CARD ", part number LNE1??TX.
|> > http://www.linksys.com/scripts/features.asp?part=lne100tx
|>
|> Are they still available in real life? Sorry for the question, but from
|> my experiences, most producers and distributors of similar adapters
|> (D-Link 550TX, Level One also had a DEC-based card) have stopped shipping
|> them because those DEC/Tulip chips aren't available any more. Or am I
|> wrong?
|
|I remember reading the same someplace else. Linksys uses a compatible
|chipset, probably they don't have to rely on DEC anymore.

Linksys LNE100TX cards use one of the following chips:

de - DEC 21140 (oldest, out of production)
pn - Lite-On PNIC
mx - Macronix / Lite-On PNIC II (apparently current production)

Linksys' web site show pictures of each so that you can tell
which one is which (why didn't they just give it a different
model name or number instead?).

|A real bargain, considering how good this chipset are.

Problem is, true DEC 21140 based cards are hard to get these days.
You'll find pn, mx, vr, ax, rl, etc. cards in their place. Which
gets back to my original question: which of the NICs are good
(in terms of good performance and low CPU usage), and which are
to be avoided?

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No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

by **Scott D. Well** » Thu, 07 Oct 1999 04:00:00

NetGear FA310TX. Works great. $25. What more can you ask for?

Scott Wells
Shadow Systems

> > > About the DEC 21x4x based cards, Linksys produces a very affordable one,
> the
> > > "ETHERFAST ENET 10/100 PCI LAN CARD ", part number LNE1??TX.

> > > http://www.linksys.com/scripts/features.asp?part=lne100tx

> > Are they still available in real life? Sorry for the question, but from
> > my experiences, most producers and distributors of similar adapters
> > (D-Link 550TX, Level One also had a DEC-based card) have stopped shipping
> > them because those DEC/Tulip chips aren't available any more. Or am I
> > wrong?

> I remember reading the same someplace else. Linksys uses a compatible
> chipset, probably they don't have to rely on DEC anymore. These cards are
> available, I've seen them in retail stores here in Miami, and in all major
> web stores I tried. (Buycomp, CDW, Warehouse, NECX, etc...). Besides, it
> seems Linksys just added WakeUp on LAN feature to these cards. I think these
> ones are pretty alive.

> > > As far as I know they don't really have the original DEC chipset but a
> > > compatible one. They work very well under Linux, about *BSD I had only
> > > checked the true DEC beast.

> > We had some SMC (DEC 21040, 10 MBit/sec., some dual-port cards), D-Link
> > 530TX (4-port 10/100 with twisted pair connectors, works very fine) and
> > many many D-Link 550 TX (10/100, TP, DEC 21140 or something the like).

> I suppose they do work, I pointed it just to be precise.

> > > It sells for less than $31, shipping (inside USA) included, at
> > > www.necx.com.

> > The D-Link 550TX was at last about 45 DEM, which I think isn't more than
> $25.

> A real bargain, considering how good this chipset are.

> > Regards,

> > Martin
> > --
> > FreibergNet Systemhaus GbR Martin Welk * Sales, Support
> > Systemhaus fr Daten- und Netzwerktechnik phone +49 3731 781387
> > Unternehmensgruppe Liebscher & Partner fax +49 3731 781377
> > D-09599 Freiberg * Am St. Niclas Schacht 13 http://www.freibergnet.de/

> Regards, Sergio Jachtchenco

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