Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 23:44:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Bill Paul <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> To: SteveFriedrich@Hot-Shot.com Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 2nd call for testers for RealTek 8139 driver Message-ID: <199809300344.XAA12955@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> In-Reply-To: <199809300220.WAA15912@laker.net> from "Steve Friedrich" at Sep 29, 98 10:19:53 pm
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Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Steve Friedrich had to walk into mine and say: > On Tue, 29 Sep 1998 19:11:50 -0400 (EDT), Bill Paul wrote: > > >C'mon guys: there's got to be a few of you > >lurking out there who got stuck with some of these cheap cards. > > Actually, a couple years ago I read a NIC ReadMe from Slackware Linux > where the device driver guys were explaining defects about many > so-called NE2000 clones. I've also been running Windows NT and OS/2 > since they came out, since I'm in the profession. Therefore, I > wouldn't touch a $29 NIC for any reason. If all I ever ran was > Winblows and Netware, I might. But I've got better things to do with > my time... The 8139 isn't an NE2000 clone. RealTek does make NE2000 clone cards, but those use the 8029 and 8039 chips, which are 10Mbps only. The 8129 and 8139 are fast ethernet controllers (the difference between them is the 8129 uses an external physical interface chip whereas the 8139 has one built in). > I do hope you find some testers, but I'd rather pay a little more to > get a board from a quality , name-brand source, that follows reasonable > engineering practices, that piss away my time wrestling with some > bullshit, "we cut corners that we shouldn't of", "you'll never find a > name on this board" bargain bin NIC. I agree with you that people should use better quality hardware. However it also annoys me when people complain that FreeBSD doesn't have a driver for their cheapo hardware while Linux does. Even if the hardware sucks, it's still nice to have driver support for it, and if the driver can't be drop dead fast it should at least be reliable. -Bill -- ============================================================================= -Bill Paul (212) 854-6020 | System Manager, Master of Unix-Fu Work: wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research Home: wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City ============================================================================= "It is not I who am crazy; it is I who am mad!" - Ren Hoek, "Space Madness" ============================================================================= To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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