[ale] DFE-530TX+ Rev D - Beware!

[Joseph A. Knapka]

There's a comment in the 8139 driver source to the effect
that, due to the memory alignment requirements of the
8139 chip and the nature of the Ethernet protocol, pretty
much every single packet to be transmitted must be copied
to a properly-aligned buffer before being sent. So it is
definitely not as efficient as cards that don't require
such additional copying.

FWIW, I have 5 8139 cards, and all except the one that
got struck by lightning work fine. But I'm not running
a production database server or anything using them.

-- Joe

Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> 
> Can you elaborate on "worst" re the RTL8139?  Do you mean to say that
> they're somehow defective or are they just inefficient?  I can accept
> inefficient, but I don't want "broken" in my file server!
> 
> - Jeff
> 
> Stuffed Crust wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 27, 2001 at 02:02:43PM -0600, Joseph A. Knapka wrote:
> > > - The rtl8139 driver (drivers/net/8139too.c) included in
> > >   the 2.4.5 kernel *will not* detect this card.
> >
> > what's the output of 'lspci -vv'?
> >
> > First, try the 2.4.7 kernel.  That's the latest, after all.
> >
> > If that doesn't work, then get the PCI IDs and mail all of that crap
> > over to jgarzik at gtf.org -- he's the author of the 8139too driver.
> >
> > > In summary, if you're running a modern kernel, *don't* take
> > > advantage of this deal. I intend to boot a 2.2 kernel later
> > > today and try it there.
> >
> > No, let's rephrase that.  "Friends don't let friends use RTL8139
> > ethernet cards."  They are the worst 10/100 boards on the market.  For
> > $2 more one can get VIA-rhine boards; they're not super, but they are
> > vastly superior th the 8139s.
> >
> >  - Pizza
> > --
> > Solomon Peachy                                    pizzaATfucktheusers.org
> > I ain't broke, but I'm badly bent.                           ICQ# 1318344
> > Patience comes to those who wait.
> >     ...It's not "Beanbag Love", it's a "Transanimate Relationship"...
> > --
> > To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message body.
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-- Joe Knapka
"You know how many remote castles there are along the gorges? You
 can't MOVE for remote castles!" -- Lu Tze re. Uberwald
// Linux MM Documentation in progress:
// http://home.earthlink.net/~jknapka/linux-mm/vmoutline.html
2nd Lbl A + 1 = 2nd Pause 2nd Prt GTO 2 R/S
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