Re: Intel EtherExpress PRO/100 Server Adapter

Ben Kosse (BKosse@thecreek.com)
Fri, 5 Mar 1999 09:45:13 -0800

> On Fri, 5 Mar 1999, Marek Habersack wrote:
> > On Thu, 4 Mar 1999, Deepak Saxena wrote:
> >
> > > The Pro/100 Server Adapter is not an I2O device. The 960 is just used
> > > to run the firmware for the card and do buffer mnagement functions
> > > under NT and Netware BorderManager. The Pro100 driver won't work
since
> > > the driver has to go through the firmware and doesn't talk directly
> > > to the 82558 MAC chips is my guess.
> > But the card works under M$ Winblows with the standard EEPRO/100 driver,
> > so I presume it should work with the standard Linux EEPRO100 driver.
> They could easily have stuffed drivers for *ten* wildly different cards
> into the driver, if they wished. In fact, given the way their marketng
> handles the different cards they are probably better of using a single
> driver (so you can switch/upgrade card more easily).
Well, actually, with the EEPRO/100, we support more cards than Windows 9x.
At least, if you take the driver straight from Intel and try it. As an
example, the HP3171a network adaptor is an Intel EEPro/100 card. Linux uses
it, NT detects it properly and will use its generic driver, but using the
generic Win95 EEpro driver fails. And it fails badly.

> To take another example I'm more familiar with, the 3Com Etherlink III/
> IIIXL cards (3c50x, 3c59x, 3c90x & 3c90xB). Windows has three different
> driver sets for these, while Linux has two and Solaris has one IIRC.
Ewww! Icky.

> (AFAIK there's a total of four different, somewhat related, operating
> modes on these cards, but the fourth is only supported by 3c90xB cards
> and not that much different from the third mode, and I don't think anyone
> uses that one. So to get good performance for all cards you need to
> support all three (four?) modes, which is done with one, two or three
> driver depending on which OS you are using).
IIRC, there's also some tweaky PCI breakage with the 905B card. This is one
of the reasons the old model windows drivers don't work with that particular
card, and also why our older drivers don't work with that card.

> And the 3c90xB dropped that backwards support, and added a new mode, but
> was supposed to be fully compatible with the 3c90x apart from that...
> Fine, except that it didn't work that way, it's only the latest 3c59x.c
> drivers that NWay speed negotiation works for example (0.99H and later
> IIRC). Not to mention the debacle with Win98 drivers powering down the
> 3c90xB cards so the driver couldn't revive them, this also requires a
> fairly recent driver to handle (2.2.x has 0.99H which should handle both
> these).
Oh, nice. I didn't know about that bit of annoyance. Are they deliberately
trying to break Linux, or what?

> In short, how the Windows driver looks and works doesn't have to have any
> bearings on how other drivers works. Especially when the driver is made by
> the manufacturer, which might know a LOT more than what they are telling
> others, they could easily have advance warnings on things that MIGHT
> change, and have workarounds implemented in the shipping driver just in
> case...
Well, anyway, there's something flakey about that new card if it works under
a true Intel stock driver but doesn't work under our driver.

--
Ben Kosse
PC Support Specialist
Coldwater Creek, Inc.
(208) 265-7114




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