Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 10:27:34 +0100 From: Tony Byrne <tony@nua.ie> Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: DEC 21143 based NIC Message-ID: <370B2506.2D66D900@nua.ie> References: <199904062140.PAA30871@panzer.plutotech.com>
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"Kenneth D. Merry" wrote: > > Tony Byrne wrote... > > I've recently laid hands on a DEC Alpha 433a personal workstation, onto > > which I am now trying to install FreeBSD. So far I've managed to > > install from CD-ROM, but I'm experiencing problems with the integrated > > NIC (a 61143 based nic). > > > > Up until yesterday it worked on the network, but with awful throughput. > > Today the NIC won't come up. My hubs indicate that a link is up, > > FreeBSD detects the NIC but it seems dead to the world and the kernel > > complains of there being no link. > > > > What's worrying me is that the card seems to have died under NT too :( > > > > Cables etc. seem fine. > > > > Has anyone any experience of this behaviour? Is it normal or is my NIC > > blown? > > IIRC, when I installed FreeBSD on a 433au last year, I had to hard-code > some variable in the SRM to get it to do 100BaseT, since it wouldn't > autodetect the fact that it's on a 100BaseT network. > > Also, a co-worker has had an awful time getting 21143 chips to do full > duplex 100BaseTX. He believes that the 21143 hardware may be broken for > 100BaseTX full duplex. (although he did say that the Linux DEC driver > tweaks some undocumented registers and says something like "needs this to > work" without any other comment) I wonder if the Linux DEC driver works > okay with the 21143 in full duplex mode. On a related subject... Assuming that the integrated NIC just won't cut the mustard or is dead beef, what off the shelf PCI / ISA NICs are likely to work in a Alpha Personal Workstation 433a, under FreeBSD (or NT for that matter)? Finding documentation for this short of thing is tricky. Also does anyone know how resources such as IRQs and IO addresses are managed by these machines? E.g, if I pop in a plain ol' NE2000 compatible ISA NIC with known IRQ and IO settings, how does the alpha know to reserve them? Sorry if my questions are slightly off topic, but I was lucky enough to lay my hands on a 433a at the weekend and it's early days on the learning curve. Regards, Tony. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message
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