[ale] Network Vendor String

[Crawford Rainwater]

On Tue, 2006-10-10 at 12:07 -0400, Christopher Fowler wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-10-10 at 10:02 -0600, Crawford Rainwater wrote:
> > 
> > Though this is just the chipset vs. manufacture information, "lspci"
> > would return similar information as well.  A simple example of my
> > laptop
> > has the following results:
> > 
> > 0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit
> > Ethernet Controller
> 
> On my box the chipset is registered to nvida.  When doing the mac lookup
> the site states that Shuttle, Inc is the manufacturer.  This is a
> shuttle PC.  
> 

With network controllers and playing nicely with Linux, it boils down to
the chipset typically.  Going by brands, one can find certain ones
(excluding the "big companies" like Intel out) out there that use
various chipsets for the same type and model of NIC.  Do they all work
with Linux nicely and with the same kernel modules...nope.

But as I mentioned before, "lspci" shows the chipset information, not
the manufacturer.  If I had to replace a piece of hardware, I would
check with the vendor to make sure red apples are still red apples in
the end since most do not consider those specifics.

If working via the MAC address returns what you desire, then there you
go. :-)  If you want more specifics for replacement parts without having
to potentially recompile your kernel from scratch (I am a Gentoo type
here), here is another option.

--- Crawford