From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Dave Eckhardt <davide+p9@cs.cmu.edu>
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>
In-Reply-To: <00CD3410-7B8A-4120-8BE3-48FECDD0E19A@gmail.com>
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Content-ID: <4950.1389029373.1@lunacy.ugrad.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Mon,  6 Jan 2014 12:29:33 -0500
Message-ID: <4951.1389029373@lunacy.ugrad.cs.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] Vanilla Plan 9 or one of the flavors?
Topicbox-Message-UUID: aee1bbbe-ead8-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

> I mentioned this. I don't want to buy a new piece of hardware when
> I could fix the issue by using a different software stack, but if
> necessary, that's what I'll end up doing (buying the hardware).

Very frequently the problem is nothing more than missing case arms
in a couple of switch() statements.  The most recent one I submitted
was:

  http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sources/patch/applied/ether8169-macv34/

If you have a detailed PCI-device listing (obtainable via a BSD or
Linux live CD), it is pretty easy to figure out which driver should
be supporting your card and whether the reason it isn't is missing
case arms.  If you've been around the block a few times it takes
an hour or two to diagnose, patch, test, and submit the patch to
Bell Labs.

However, if you're just getting started it can take you a week or
two of fussing, which may compare unfavorably with picking up a
known-good Ethernet card for $5 from eBay/NewEgg/etc.  Having
a working Ethernet makes it easier for you to get started, and
once you're started you can go back and figure out what's wrong
with the built-in Ethernet.

Dave Eckhardt