*BSD News Article 46717


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From: kargl@apl.washington.edu (steve)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: 3Com 3c509 card and ep driver
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 12:14:57 -0800
Organization: University of Washington
Lines: 29
Message-ID: <kargl-1207951214570001@mac-pal.apl.washington.edu>
References: <cander-1207951028110001@lolita.hip.berkeley.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mac-pal.apl.washington.edu

In article <cander-1207951028110001@lolita.hip.berkeley.edu>,
cander@ieor.berkeley.edu (Charles Anderson) wrote:

> The FAQ says that the ep driver supports the 3c509 card, but it also says
> that it has "known problems".  Through a twisted turn of events, I have
> ended up with such a card.  Before I open the box with the card, can
> someone tell me how bad the known problems are?  Does it run slowly?  Does
> it crash the kernel, even under light load?  Does it not report statistics
> to netstat correctly?  At the moment, I just need it for a few file
> transfers - no heavy abuse.

The reports of problems with the 3c509 are (IMHO) greatly exaggerated.

The known problems are mainly conflicts caused by the probes of others
stomping on the 3c509 rom.  It leaves the card screwed up.   If you build
a custom kernel (which you should), then you should hae no problems.

The speed of the card is okay, too.  I have seen up to 400kB/s transfer rate.

No, it does not crash the kernel.  The worst scenaro is the system will hang
during the boot of the kernel (while probing the 3c509).  Simply, power
cycle the machine.

AFAIK, netstat does its job.

Finally, when you setup your card with ifconfig, you'll need to specify a
flag to indicate which port to use.  link0 = bnc, link1 = aui, and link2 = utp.
Also, if this is a 3c509b (plug and play) variety, you might need to turn off
the plug and play feature