From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 21 17:34:44 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 427A716ADCD for ; Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:34:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wc_fbsd@xxiii.com) Received: from cartman.xxiii.com (cartman.xxiii.com [208.62.177.45]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7754743D55 for ; Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:34:20 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wc_fbsd@xxiii.com) Received: from [192.168.0.218] (lan23.xxiii.com [208.62.177.50]) by cartman.xxiii.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id kALHYgTe051916 for ; Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:34:42 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wc_fbsd@xxiii.com) Message-ID: <456338B5.3020108@xxiii.com> Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:34:45 -0500 From: Wayne User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.8 (Windows/20061025) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freeBSD References: <4562CF3D.1070203@esiee.fr> <4562FD87.1080105@wmptl.com> <4563005E.7010807@esiee.fr> <4563300A.2050408@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <4563300A.2050408@mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: NIC driver question X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:34:44 -0000 > I wonder what would be the "best" network interface to > plug in (if necessary) as I don't know for now what is > the builtin interfaces in this machine. A while back, I asked about "best" FreeBSD hardware in general, and unfortunately, got little response. But Nathan's comments below seem identical with mine. > As for 100mbit cards: Hands-down, Intel 'fxp'-driven cards... rock solid in terms of performance and stability; never had a single unit go bad, used hundreds of them, including dual and quad-port cards. Yup - have the fxp cards in all our older "white box" servers. Very solid. And if 100Mb still works for you, they can be had on Ebay for < $5/ea. > On the gigabit side: I've had great luck with broadcom cards using the > 'bge' driver, and a few intel cards utilizing the 'em' I have a couple newer Dells with the Broadcom / BGE controllers. They seem to work fine on 6.x. 3Com used to be considered "primo" in the industry. But I've had minor troubles with the '905 "xl" cards negotiating duplex on FBSD 4 & 5. Since then, guys on this list have bashed 3Com for their refusal to support and acknowledge FreeBSD... so screw 'em. -W