plain-vanilla ethernet; do brands matter?

[fredex]

On Thu, Jun 09, 2005 at 11:35:06AM -0700, THUFIR HAWAT wrote:
> On 6/9/05, Bob Chiodini <rchiodin at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > On Thu, 2005-06-09 at 04:33 +0100, THUFIR HAWAT wrote:
> > > On 6/9/05, Michael A. Peters <mpeters at mac.com> wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > Chances are slim that any pci nic won't work.
> > >
> > > I'm looking at:
> > > <http://www.eglobalonline.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=342>
> > >
> > > which seems to match up with:
> > > <http://www.dlink.com/products/support.asp?pid=122&sec=0#drivers>
> ...
> > This card seems to use the realtek 8139 chipset, as taharka points out
> > in another email these should be avoided.  My experience has been iffy,
> > with regard to performance and autonegotiation did not work correctly
> > with a d-link switch/router.
> > 
> > I agree with taharka concerning the 3-Com cards and add that Intel
> > 10/100 and 1000 cards seem well supported and perform well.
> > 
> > One other thing to keep in mind is that vendors seem to be preserving
> > model numbers while changing the specifics of the devices.  We have seen
> > several USB NICs with the same part/model numbers, but completely
> > different chipsets.  Early models were supported later models were not.
> > The moral of the story is open the box and see what's in it.
> > 
> > Bob...
> 
> thanks, Bob.  I like the price and there does seem to be a linux
> driver, at least according to D-Link (as far as I can tell).  I'll see
> what the merchant says.  if there's a linux driver that should be
> sufficient.

I've heard people say that realtek 8139 cards aren't reliable. All I know
is I've got two of 'em in my firewall box (Smoothwall Express) and they 
work great. no problems at all. One of 'em is talking to the Toshiba
cable modem and the other to the cheap offbrand 10/100 switch. both auto-
negotiated 100mbps (used to have a 10mbit hub and it autonegotiated 10mbps
then). My motherboard (Gigabyte GA7n400 Pro2) has realtek 8169 chipset
for lan and it also works fine. One of the nice things about those
chipseets is that Linux comes with the drivers built-in, so you don't 
mess around with drivers whenever a kernel update comes along.

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
               But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 
                         While we were still sinners, 
                              Christ died for us.
------------------------------- Romans 5:8 (niv) ------------------------------
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