Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 16:48:15 +0100 (CET) From: Marc Schneiders <marc@schneiders.org> To: "Chan, Herman (MTO)" <Herman.Chan@mto.gov.on.ca> Cc: "'freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG'" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Setting up Unknown ISA Ethernet Card Message-ID: <20030304163534.D993-100000@voo.doo.net> In-Reply-To: <F89333F99E63A24095E38D2C65AF8AB806013C0B@MTODSAMS03>
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On Tue, 4 Mar 2003, at 10:30 [=GMT-0500], Chan, Herman (MTO) wrote: > I am new to freebsd and I am trying to set up a ISA ethernet card so I can > connect to interent with my cable modem. > > Since I don't know the brand name of the ISA ethernet card, There must be something written on this card. Enter that in Google and see what comes up. Or tell it here, if Google doesn't work. > I've been having > hard time setting up the OS. > > Any idea how can I make it work, is there any way I can see the IRQ and port > for the ISA card without runny another > OS on the machine? Does FreeBSD _see_ your card? Is it mentioned in the kernel messages? If so, what do they exactly say? Or if you get to the install, is the card listed among the network devices that you can use to install over? Look for some device with a mac address, e.g.: ep0: <3Com 3C509-Combo EtherLink III> at port 0x310-0x31f irq 10 on isa0 ep0: Ethernet address 00:60:08:47:b1:0b This "Ethernet address" indicates that it is an ethernet card :-) > And how can I test if the ethernet card is up and running? Usually there is some sort of DOS program for these old cards. You can run it from a DOS floppy. This program can be used to set IRQ etc. as well as to test the functioning. Some of these cards also can be set to both BNC and UTP connectors, some even have AUI. Often this works fine when set to auto. However, if it set by some setup program in the past to do BNC and you use UTP, it won't communicate obviously. Some cards do have jumpers to set IRQ etc. And then you have to enter the correct data of IRQ etc during the FreeBSD install. Precisely because it is ISA. And sometimes you also have to set the IRQ and memory address as reserved in the BIOS. Otherwise those of your ISA card may be used by some PCI device, and then it doesn't work, of course. In my experience this is true for the Western Digital 8013 cards. It is a bit of work, but many of these old cards do run fine still, and you can pick them up from the street. Same with BNC cable, which has far better connectors than UTP (RJ45, a.k.a. cat 5). I mean, stand on a RJ45 connector, and you know what I mean. And you don't need a hub, and have less cables on the floor, since BNC is daisy chain. So if you are not going for 100 MBit, go ahead. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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