Linux Ethernet-Howto

by Paul Gortmaker

1. Introduction

• 1.1 New Versions of this Document
• 1.2 Using the Ethernet-Howto
• 1.3 What do I need to to get ethernet working?
• 1.4 HELP - It doesn't work!
• 1.5 Type of cable that your card should support

2. Frequently Asked Questions

• 2.1 How do I tell Linux what driver to use?
• 2.2 What card should I buy for Linux?
• 2.3 Alpha Drivers -- Getting and Using them
• 2.4 Using More than one Ethernet Card per Machine
• 2.5 The ether= thing didn't do anything for me. Why?
• 2.6 Problems with NE1000 / NE2000 cards (and clones)
• 2.7 Problems with SMC Ultra/EtherEZ and WD80*3 cards
• 2.8 Problems with 3Com cards
• 2.9 FAQs Not Specific to Any Card.

3. Performance Tips

• 3.1 General Concepts
• 3.2 ISA Cards and ISA Bus Speed
• 3.3 Setting the TCP Rx Window
• 3.4 Increasing NFS performance

4. Vendor/Manufacturer/Model Specific Information

• 4.1 3Com
• 4.2 Accton
• 4.3 Adaptec
• 4.4 Allied Telesyn/Telesis
• 4.5 AMD / Advanced Micro Devices
• 4.6 Ansel Communications
• 4.7 Apricot
• 4.8 Arcnet
• 4.9 Boca Research
• 4.10 Broadcom
• 4.11 Cabletron
• 4.12 Cogent
• 4.13 Compaq
• 4.14 Danpex
• 4.15 Davicom
• 4.16 D-Link
• 4.17 DFI
• 4.18 Digital / DEC
• 4.19 Farallon
• 4.20 Fujitsu
• 4.21 Hewlett Packard
• 4.22 IBM / International Business Machines
• 4.23 ICL Ethernet Cards
• 4.24 Intel Ethernet Cards
• 4.25 Kingston
• 4.26 LinkSys
• 4.27 Microdyne (Eagle)
• 4.28 Mylex
• 4.29 Myson
• 4.30 National Semiconductor
• 4.31 Novell Ethernet, NExxxx and associated clones.
• 4.32 Netgear
• 4.33 Proteon
• 4.34 Pure Data
• 4.35 Racal-Interlan
• 4.36 RealTek
• 4.37 Sager
• 4.38 Schneider & Koch
• 4.39 SEEQ
• 4.40 SiS (Silicon Integrated Systems)
• 4.41 SMC (Standard Microsystems Corp.)
• 4.42 Sundance
• 4.43 SysKonnect
• 4.44 Texas Instruments
• 4.45 Thomas Conrad
• 4.46 VIA
• 4.47 Western Digital
• 4.48 Winbond
• 4.49 Xircom
• 4.50 Zenith
• 4.51 Znyx
• 4.52 Identifying an Unknown Card
• 4.53 Drivers for Non-Ethernet Devices

5. Cables, Coax, Twisted Pair

• 5.1 Thin Ethernet (thinnet)
• 5.2 Twisted Pair

6. Software Configuration and Card Diagnostics

• 6.1 Configuration Programs for Ethernet Cards
• 6.2 Diagnostic Programs for Ethernet Cards

7. Technical Information

• 7.1 Programmed I/O vs. Shared Memory vs. DMA
• 7.2 Performance Implications of Bus Width
• 7.3 Performance Implications of Zero Copy
• 7.4 Performance Implications of Hardware Checksums
• 7.5 Performance Implications of NAPI (Rx interrupt mitigation)

8. Miscellaneous.

• 8.1 Transmit FIFO Buffers and Underrun Errors
• 8.2 Passing Ethernet Arguments to the Kernel
• 8.3 Using the Ethernet Drivers as Modules
• 8.4 Related Documentation
• 8.5 Disclaimer and Copyright
• 8.6 Closing