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Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 22:47:16 -0500 (EST)
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From: Brian Clapper <bmc@WillsCreek.COM>
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To: questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Is NE2000 network card OK?
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Dave Bodenstab wrote:

> I just got an additional PC and I now want to network them on
> the cheap.  I see that ISA NE2000 compatible cards are selling
> for under $20 and I was wondering if it would be a reasonable
> way to go.   This will be my first venture into the world of
> networks, so...
>
>   - is the NE2000 adequately supported?
>   - are there any drawbacks to this card?
>   - if the card claims that it supports the Novell drivers,
>     is it likely that the FreeBSD driver would support it
>     also?

The card should work fine.  The `ed' driver (the one you'll be using) seems
pretty stable.  For the last year or so, I've been using old SMC 10Base2
cards on FreeBSD (decidely *old* technology), and I haven't had one bit of
trouble.  In addition, we successfully used NE2000-compatible cards on
FreeBSD boxen at my previous employer, and I don't recall any problems
occurring that weren't related to faulty hardware.


Brian Clapper, bmc@WillsCreek.COM, http://WWW.WillsCreek.COM/
The Roman Rule
        The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the
        one who is doing it.