From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 7 00:50:39 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6B4FD1065674 for ; Sun, 7 Sep 2008 00:50:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from QMTA04.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net (qmta04.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net [76.96.62.40]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 140AA8FC19 for ; Sun, 7 Sep 2008 00:50:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from OMTA05.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net ([76.96.62.43]) by QMTA04.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id BU3E1a01Z0vyq2s54cqe5o; Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:50:38 +0000 Received: from koitsu.dyndns.org ([67.180.253.227]) by OMTA05.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id Bcqd1a0054v8bD73Rcqdef; Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:50:38 +0000 X-Authority-Analysis: v=1.0 c=1 a=hLqVUHj5AAAA:8 a=HqhU5Q3nAAAA:8 a=QycZ5dHgAAAA:8 a=Oc2ixKO1Fw5RLRePzBIA:9 a=dGnz2q8JDRPFsPCw_NgA:7 a=F6OlG3egDQiONzZKQKMfh9ePc4gA:4 a=EoioJ0NPDVgA:10 a=jbrJJM5MRmoA:10 a=5DbmezEbq8cA:10 a=LY0hPdMaydYA:10 Received: by icarus.home.lan (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 76E8E17B81A; Sat, 6 Sep 2008 17:50:36 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 17:50:36 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick To: Dan Allen Message-ID: <20080907005036.GA98944@icarus.home.lan> References: <1220545795.94705.15.camel@buffy.york.ac.uk> <49B92D81-74EC-4BAB-BEEC-EC4DCFF5E336@airwired.net> <1220550536.94705.18.camel@buffy.york.ac.uk> <48C02768.1080207@math.missouri.edu> <20080905053455.GD65464@cdnetworks.co.kr> <20080905055423.GA37775@icarus.home.lan> <20080905060642.GF65464@cdnetworks.co.kr> <20080905092633.GA53234@icarus.home.lan> <20080906034327.GA74236@icarus.home.lan> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) Cc: Pyun YongHyeon , Peter Jeremy , Gavin Atkinson , freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Inspiron 1525 Hardware X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:50:39 -0000 On Sat, Sep 06, 2008 at 01:12:29PM -0600, Dan Allen wrote: > On 5 Sep 2008, at 9:43 PM, Jeremy Chadwick wrote: >> I cannot find a single PCI/PCIe card that uses the 88E8040. > > I wonder how Ubuntu supports this ethernet chip? It is amazing that > only two Dell's use this chip. Maybe it is not worth worrying about > after all... The reason I'm "worried" about it is that both of those laptop models, especially the Inspiron, are becoming increasingly common. The Inspiron is decently priced/affordable, which means more and more people will start to come out of the woodwork stating FreeBSD doesn't work with its Ethernet chip. This is mainly for Yong-Hyeon: The code for the Linux driver is in sky2.c. You can get a "revision history" with dates by clicking on the weird triangle image on the far left, or get a commit comments by clicking on "CSets" (which is quite useful). Clicking on the actual sky2.c link provides an annotated version. http://linux.bkbits.net:8080/linux-2.6/drivers/net/?PAGE=dir It appears Linux got support for the 88E8040 in September 2007 (revision 1.2.73). Support for the 88E8040T was added in June 2008 (revision 1.330.1.3). The 1.2.73 commit also added support for the 88E8048 and the 88E8070. This might be of great help in tracking down just what register tweaks they added to get support working: http://linux.bkbits.net:8080/linux-2.6/drivers/net/sky2.c?PAGE=diffs&REV=46f2c896NoiOKP_Nx0TcSvNe1G-elw However, there is a comment at the very top that says "this driver lacks link management", indicating PHY support might be somewhere else in the Linux kernel. If that's the case, this code might not be of much help. It might be worth getting in contact with the driver author, shemminger@linux-foundation.org, or jeff@garzik.org, and asking for tips. > Don't kill yourself over this. It is not the end of the world. It > appears I will be able to get my Intel 4965 Wireless working in which > case I can use that. I have lots of computers in which I can run > FreeBSD. It doesn't surprise me that only two products on the US market (that I can find) use this chip. I blogged about the horrible state of Ethernet chips used on consumer products back in July; everyone is using Realtek or Attansic/Atheros now, which means they pretty much have a stronghold on the consumer market. I wouldn't be concerned with this if their chips weren't buggy as hell. http://koitsu.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/realtek-everywhere-when-will-it-stop/ The same problem applies to laptops, although I believe in the case of the laptop market, engineers often (justifiably) look for chips which draw the least amount of power, rather than "the cheapest chip" (which appears to be Realtek). -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |