Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 13:20:44 -0600 From: Andrew Hesford <ajh3@chmod.ath.cx> To: "HOLIFIELD,JOHN (HP-USA,ex1)" <john_holifield@hp.com> Cc: "'freebsd-questions@freebsd.org'" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Linux/SCO NIC driver compatibility Message-ID: <20010308132044.D2276@cec.wustl.edu> In-Reply-To: <B11E1D6EB0D9D311B10600902740B8E2F251FF@xatl07.atl.hp.com>; from john_holifield@hp.com on Thu, Mar 08, 2001 at 11:37:05AM -0700 References: <B11E1D6EB0D9D311B10600902740B8E2F251FF@xatl07.atl.hp.com>
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No. Linux and SVR4 compatibilty have nothing to do with hardware drivers in the kernel. They are not interchangable, and having a working driver on one machine does *not* imply there is a driver on another machine. Linux and SVR4 compatibility only apply to running binary application programs. The compatibility code translates system calls for SysV and Linux binaries into FreeBSD calls. In essence, as far as linux is concerned, a mini-linux is started by the kernel, which is what the Linux programs interface with. However, I would imagine chances are good that the card is supported. It has been my experience that the linux "drivers" that manufacturers provide are really just kernel modules for 2.0.x, which have most likely been implemented in the latest kernel. The thing is, your NIC probably isn't being recognized as a Linksys card, it's being recognized as some other, more general card. E.g., I have a D-LINK DE-528 PCI card, and it is recognized in Linux and FreeBSD as a Novell NE2000-PCI card. A Network Everywhere (I believe that's Linksys geared towards home users) LNE-100TX is recognized as a Macronix card, which is handled by the DEC-Tulip 21143 driver (dc in FreeBSD). My suggestion is to boot to linux, watch the boot messages, find out what the card is reported as, look at what driver handles it, and then dig around in /sys/i386/conf/LINT for a listing that matches what linux tells you. On Thu, Mar 08, 2001 at 11:37:05AM -0700, HOLIFIELD,JOHN (HP-USA,ex1) wrote: > Hello, > > I have been trying to configure a Netgear FA11 NIC on my play machine. It > is running 4.0 Release. Now I know that this particular NIC isn't on the > FreeBSD HCL or whatever, but I have drivers for Linux and SCO. Since my > play machine has the SCO and Linux compatibility built in, shouldn't I still > be able to use this NIC? > > Could someone please advise me if what I'm attempting is possible, or would > I be better off pulling the card and installing another? I have access to > several other supported cards I could use, but since I'm dual booting BSD > and Microsoft I am reluctant to change hardware (My wife has forbidden me to > take the computer apart again.) ;-) > > Thanks for your time. > > Regards, > John Holifield > john_holifield@hp.com > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- Andrew Hesford ajh3@chmod.ath.cx To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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