Bernie wrote
> L.D wrote:
> >Ethernet cards do NOT generally come with DOS packet drivers; as far as
> >I could find, *only* 3Com bothers.
>
> Ahem, Ethernet cards DO generally come with DOS packet drivers. I have four
> diffrent cards and they all had DOS drivers on the accompaning disks. Mind
> you, I didn't specifically look for those that had so either I'm very lucky
> (which I find unlikely) or almost all have DOS drivers. Getting Linux to
> find the cards is another thing altogether (but we have already gone over
> this - no point in another flame-war right Steven <g>).
> In case the cards manufactureror don't ship (or have) drivers, one of the
> more generic drivers might work.
> If we go after what I have bought: Buy the cheapest card you can find and
> you'll get the drivers ;-)
> //Bernie
I've got two ethernet cards: one of them is Surecom NE-34 (PCI) and the other
is Surecom NE-12 (ISA PnP, but can be PnP feature can be disabled in order to
set it up manually).
Both of them are NE2000 compatible. I have the manufacturer's set of drivers
for both of them, but I can use generic NE2000 drivers for putting them to
work. At least for Personal Netware. I bet the NE2000 packet driver works too,
although I haven't tried yet. Also I had no trouble at all setting them up to
work under Linux.
The only notable exception is Windows who does not recognize them as being
NE2000 compatible.
The only important things to know about network cards are their settings. (I/O
address, IRQ etc.) These can be found using a small utility program, usually
existing on the disk shipped together with the card. These utilities are to
be found on the manufacturer web site, too. (usually bundled together with the
drivers for different OS-es).
Supposing you are unsure about the type of your card (in many cases the name
is not to be found clearly written on them) , there are three alternetives.
- Do a FCC ID search is there is any FCC ID marked on it. This will reveal its
manufacturer.
- Notice the type of its controller (eg. RTL8029) and try generic drivers and
utilities for it.
- Use generic NE2000 or 3COM drivers. Maybe you're in luck.
Cristian Burneci
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