*BSD News Article 43107


Return to BSD News archive

Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!news.hawaii.edu!ames!hookup!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!grape.epix.net!epix.net!razor
From: razor@epix.net
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: ethernet cards (3COM?)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 06:46:26
Organization: epix.net
Lines: 41
Message-ID: <razor.57.0006C5FE@epix.net>
References: <3cgprj$iaq@agate.berkeley.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: lwbyppp1.epix.net
X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A]

In article <3cgprj$iaq@agate.berkeley.edu> mds@rich.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Mark D. Spiller) writes:
>From: mds@rich.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Mark D. Spiller)
>Subject: ethernet cards (3COM?)
>Date: 12 Dec 1994 06:16:19 GMT


>Hi -

>I was wondering if anyone out there could give a recommendation
>on a good, FAST, reliable ethernet card that I could get up
>and running quickly on my 486/66?  I took a quick skim through
>the faq, and saw that there were quite a few supported, but 
>would like to get some first hand experiences from the net...

>I was considering the 3COM 3C503 16 bit...  But was wondering,
>how does it compare to the 509?  ( I noticed that lots of people
>in the newsgroup had trouble with that one...)

>Thanks for any info!

>Mark D. Spiller
>mds@ic.eecs.berkeley.edu

Mark, I have been advised by different people and application distributors to 
use the 3COM 3C503/16 card also.  It usually comes with an EtherLink II/16 
adapter as well.  I am using MicroStation software for CADD applications from 
Intergraph in Huntsville.  I have this card on an older 386/33 using BYERS 
PC-XNS software to tie my PC DOS operating system to our UNIX system so we can 
pass files back and forth between the two.  We need to zip and unzip files for 
clients using DOS, but do our work on a UNIX platform.  BYERS recommends and 
supports this card.

I later installed a 486/66 based workstation in another part of our building 
for similar applications but with the added ability of running MicroStation on 
a PC platform (less expen$e) but to continue referencing our files on the UNIX 
system without any conversion.  On this machine I was advised by my vendor to 
use a different card.  I did as he recommended and had nothing but trouble.  
Do I remember which card it was ?  No, sorry.  Too much water has passed over 
the dam since then.  I swapped him for a 3COM 3C503/16 again and all my 
problems disappeared.  Sure I could run a 32 bit card, but the 16 is faster 
than we can think anyway when we are designing.