Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 13:52:26 -0700 (PDT) From: "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@GndRsh.aac.dev.com> To: ulf@lamb.net (Ulf Zimmermann) Cc: brandon@tombstone.sunrem.com, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 3COM network cards.. Message-ID: <199608202052.NAA07775@GndRsh.aac.dev.com> In-Reply-To: <199608201750.KAA22620@Gatekeeper.Lamb.net> from Ulf Zimmermann at "Aug 20, 96 10:50:13 am"
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> > I've seen some heat in regard to 3Com cards. Is this in regard to any
> > specific card, or all 3Com cards in general? I was under the impression
> > that 3Com cards were rather decent cards..
3Com cards seem to be decent cards if your running Netware or another
vendor supported software. It seems that the FreeBSD (or for that matter
the *BSD) drivers for the 3Com products are continuously going through
changes to fix something that is broken with respect to some card.
In other words, 3Com cards are poorly supported in the free software world.
I avoid their products for that reason.
> >
> > I'm looking to find a good card to use on a router with a CSU/DSU unit
> > (freeBSD router), any suggestions? Is the 3Com 590-COMBO? TPO?
> >
> > Thanks..
> >
> > -Brandon Gillespie
> >
>
> I would go with a DEC based 21x4x card. Znyx and Cogent/Adaptec do 2 and 4
> port cards. Starting with standard 10mbit/s up to 10/100MB/sec.
I have qualified the following products for use in systems I build:
XX. TMG SMC9332DST SMC 10/100MB DEC 21140 ethernet (OEM) $ 145.00
XX. TMG SMC8432BT SMC EtherPower PCI, RJ45/BNC, DEC 21041 $ 159.00
[Yes, thats right, SMC has their pricing ass backwards :-(]
XX. TMG SMC8432BTA SMC EtherPower PCI, RJ45/BNC/AUI, DEC 21041 (Bulk) $ 158.00
XX. TMG KIN17648 Kingston KNE40BT PCI Ethernet Card, 10BT/10B2 DC21041 $ 78.00
XX. TMG EFA18215 EFA170 PCI Ethernet Card, 10BT/10B2, DC21040 $ 76.00
Kingston also makes a 100Mb/s card that is coming in for eval over the
next week or two and I expect to add that to the line up.
I have dropped all Compex products and am not using anything they make
due to them doing strange things to the DEC design that makes their
cards inoperable with the FreeBSD drivers, and then not being able to
work with Matt Thomas in resolving these problems. Be wary of the
current Compex boards, they won't work well, or even at all, in some
cases, with FreeBSD's driver.
--
Rod Grimes rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com
Accurate Automation Company Reliable computers for FreeBSD
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