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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
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-- 
Andrew Hesford
ajh3@chmod.ath.cx

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