Very Computer

by **Ajay Sh** » Wed, 14 Jul 1993 20:04:54

It appears that Linux now knows how to do networking over the parallel
port. How does this work? There is supposed to be some cabling
between the parallel port and the ethernet.

This sounds great for laptops which must occasionally get hooked up
into a TCP/IP network at work. I can wait a few months if needed for
this to get fully reliable, for it saves me from the costs and hassles
of making a ethernet card work with a notebook.

How fast is this? Faster than SLIP over 38.4 kb? (Do you get 38,400
baud over a 16450?).

-ans.
--

by **Michael O'Reil** » Wed, 14 Jul 1993 21:26:58

: It appears that Linux now knows how to do networking over the parallel
: port. How does this work? There is supposed to be some cabling
: between the parallel port and the ethernet.

There is PLIP (parallel IP ?? ). but it connects two machines via
their parallel ports, not one parallel port to ether.

: This sounds great for laptops which must occasionally get hooked up
: into a TCP/IP network at work. I can wait a few months if needed for
: this to get fully reliable, for it saves me from the costs and hassles
: of making a ethernet card work with a notebook.

It is (as far as I know) very experimental at the moment. Read the
NET-FAQ (??) and the source. :)

: How fast is this? Faster than SLIP over 38.4 kb? (Do you get 38,400
: baud over a 16450?).

I saw figures of 30K/s which is about 3 times better than csl/ip at
115,000.

: -ans.
: --

Michael.

by **96..** » Wed, 14 Jul 1993 22:31:24

Quote:>I saw figures of 30K/s which is about 3 times better than csl/ip at
>115,000.

IF you have a bidirectional parallel port, a Xircom
network adaptor will perform on a par with an on-board
ethernet card. SL chips support EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port),
but not all adaptors & vendors do. Caveat empore.

Kyle

---------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Postal: S.U. 1148
Williams College
Williamstown, MA 01267

by **Russell Nels** » Fri, 16 Jul 1993 02:58:04

> >I saw figures of 30K/s which is about 3 times better than csl/ip at
> >115,000.

> IF you have a bidirectional parallel port, a Xircom
> network adaptor will perform on a par with an on-board
> ethernet card. SL chips support EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port),
> but not all adaptors & vendors do. Caveat empore.

Is there any Linux support for these babies?

No. And since it has to be linked into the kernel, and that means
that source must be available, I don't think there will ever be
support for Xircom. Same for any other manufacturer that refuses to
document their hardware, e.g. Diamond's SpeedStar boards.

Crynwr Software Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
11 Grant St. 315-268-1925 Voice | LPF member - ask me about
Potsdam, NY 13676 315-268-9201 FAX | the harm software patents do.

by **Benjamin John McCa** » Sat, 17 Jul 1993 08:25:23

>No. And since it has to be linked into the kernel, and that means
>that source must be available, I don't think there will ever be
>support for Xircom. Same for any other manufacturer that refuses to
>document their hardware, e.g. Diamond's SpeedStar boards.

Does this mean that there is NO way to connect a Linux machine to a
LAN, so that, for instance, you could log into the Linux box from
another PC on the LAN?

Thanks in advance,

Ben
--

Caltech SEDS President & Technical Projects Coordinator

by **Byron A Je** » Sat, 17 Jul 1993 12:50:40

>>No. And since it has to be linked into the kernel, and that means
>>that source must be available, I don't think there will ever be
>>support for Xircom. Same for any other manufacturer that refuses to
>>document their hardware, e.g. Diamond's SpeedStar boards.

>Does this mean that there is NO way to connect a Linux machine to a
>LAN, so that, for instance, you could log into the Linux box from
>another PC on the LAN?

>Thanks in advance,
>Ben

Sure you can - just not with a Xircom pocket adapter. I have 2 Linux
boxes on the network. One with a WD8003E card and the other with a SMC 8013.
If you wish to use a pocket adapter then D-Link is the way to go. In fact
there is already a D-Link driver in the pl10 release. All Russ is saying
is that the programming specs for any adapter used has to be available and
Xircom isn't releasing theirs.

Bottom Line: For a desktop get a WD or SMC card. For a laptop get a D-Link.
If you have a Xircom: Sorry.

Help this helps,

BAJ
---
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel!

by **Marc Unang** » Sun, 18 Jul 1993 09:53:31

Quote:>Is there any Linux support for these babies?

Not for the Xircom adapters, since Xircom has been notoriously loath
to give out source code or other documentation on how to interface
with their hardware. However, there is a preliminary alpha-test
driver for the D-Link DE-600; I've tested it and while it's sort of
slow and tends to drop packets, it *does* function. I didn't have
time to do any sort of performance benchmarks on it. However, as with
just about everything in Linux, if you give it another month it will
probably improve by an order of magnitude...

--
Marc Unangst, N8VRH | "Free software is NOT the same thing as

| -Sandy Knapp in comp.os.linux

by **Ajay Sh** » Sun, 18 Jul 1993 11:34:55

>>Is there any Linux support for these babies?
>Not for the Xircom adapters, since Xircom has been notoriously loath
>to give out source code or other documentation on how to interface
>with their hardware. However, there is a preliminary alpha-test
>driver for the D-Link DE-600; I've tested it and while it's sort of
>slow and tends to drop packets, it *does* function. I didn't have

Ok, so we'll avoid Xircom (just like Diamond :-)).

How much does the D-Link DE-600 cost mailorder? I've had bad
experiences with very low speed D-Link ethernet cards...

I think this is really exciting for notebooks to get low-speed
networking "for free". (Well, for the price of a DE-600). This beats
mucking with docking station, or PCMCIA (what is scene on drivers for
this?).

Thanks,

-ans.
--

by **Mark Eich** » Mon, 19 Jul 1993 11:37:15

Quote:>> mucking with docking station, or PCMCIA (what is scene on drivers for
>> this?).

My boss just got the SOCKET Inc. PCMCIA ethernet adaptor
working under linux... their cards emulate an NE2000, so you just need
a little bit of code to enable the i/o port mapping and select
thinwire or UTP, and then fall through to the normal NE2000
configuration routine. (They also have a serial port and a GPS
receiver (still under development) on PCMCIA cards...)
It works fine, I got ftp speeds of 110Kbytes/second to 170K
bytes/second, which appeared to be disk bound (this is from a Dell
386SL/25.) [It's very weird to telnet into somebody's laptop :-)]

MIT Student Information Processing Board

>>> mucking with docking station, or PCMCIA (what is scene on drivers for
>>> this?).
> My boss just got the SOCKET Inc. PCMCIA ethernet adaptor
> working under linux... their cards emulate an NE2000, so you just need
> a little bit of code to enable the i/o port mapping and select
> thinwire or UTP, and then fall through to the normal NE2000
> configuration routine. (They also have a serial port and a GPS
> receiver (still under development) on PCMCIA cards...)
> It works fine, I got ftp speeds of 110Kbytes/second to 170K
> bytes/second, which appeared to be disk bound (this is from a Dell
> 386SL/25.) [It's very weird to telnet into somebody's laptop :-)]

Aside from this, SMC are "about to go to production", RSN with a pocket
adaptor and a PCMCIA. I don't know what the programming details on the
pocket adaptor will be like, but they are saying the PCMCIA will work
with their -old- 8003 drivers (! ?).

Maybe Russ has seen pre-production models??

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Nick FitzGerald, PC Applications Consultant, CSC, Uni of Canterbury, N.Z.

Very Computer

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port

Networking over parallel port