[9fans] Re: Plan 9 from Bell Labs - Frequently Asked

[jim mckie jmk@plan9.bell-labs.com]

	>It is interesting that you bring this up...
	>
	>>Hello 9fans!
	>>
	>>FAQ says in comp.os.plan9:
	>>>Ethernet Adapters
	>>>	3Com 3C509, 3C509B are recommended. The EISA 3C579 works, but
	>>>	isn't worth the extra cost. The PCMCIA 3C589, PCI 3C590 and PCI
	>>>!	3C595 (fast ethernet) also work. AMD 79C970 based adapters seem to
	>>>	work fine. SMC (WD) series up to the Elite (and the Elite Ultra),
	>>>	some NE2000 compatibles (including an NE4100 PCMCIA card) and one
	>>>	Eagle NE3210 EISA card. The 3Com 3C503 does not work at all under
	>>>!	load. The 3Com 3C595 is not supported.
	>>Does 3C595 work or not?
	>>
	>>According to 3COME Home Page
	>>the Fast EtherLink that 3COM currentlly sails are:
	>>PCI: 3C905-TX, 3C905-T4
	>>EISA: 3C597-TX
	>>ISA: 3C515-TX
	>
	>I have a 3c509, 3c579, 3c597 and 3c905.  The ISA card works, except
	>under heavy receive load with an adaptec 1542 bus-master the small
	>receive FIFO will drive you crazy!
	>
	>But the 32bit cards don't work worth a sh*t!  After spending too
	>much time going through Plan9 and Net/FreeBSD source I have determined
	>these cards go into stupid mode on transmit when presented with
	>bursts of receive data.  In other words, if you rip a lot of data
	>off the card or force a lot into the card, it works great.  But just
	>try a single compile session, which does full 8k reads and writes,
	>and the cards go stupid.  A cp of a ~large file in a directory will
	>do it to.
	>
	>They will not accept any more data into the transmit FIFO, will not
	>transmit what is in the FIFO and will not give you a TxAvail interrupt
	>when the FIFO finally does drain!
	>
	>I don't have any documentation to the cards, so I'm in the dark.
	>Any body want to help?
	>
	>David Butler
	>gdb@dbSystems.com

which of the above cards are you classifying as 32-bit? the 579 and 597 are 
32-bit (eisa). we have 579s and they work fine. the 597 probably won't work without
dealing with various chip errata.

the 905 is problematic: although it has compatibility with the older cards the
fifos are tiny and the card really has to be run in busmastering mode or it gums
up a lot (it works well enough in fifo mode to boot a kernel with b.com though).
in busmastering mode there are chip errata which have to be dealt with or it can
hang up too.

as i mentioned in a previous message i still have problems with the 905 so i'm
interested in any other experiences with it.

--jim