Rob,
I've used the Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link, and all had good performance.
The features that differentiate these cards are how well they get along
with the rest of your peripherals, and whether wake-on-lan and other
advanced features work right. Of the three I've tried the Linksys is
clearly superior, but the others get the job done. One thing to note
is that each of these cards have been revised several times over the
years to fix bugs.
I'm surprised the 3com's are so inexpensive; they are supposed to be
very good...
Ralph
On Sat, 4 Aug 2001, Rob Hudson wrote:
> I'm reviewing 10/100 NIC cards this morning. I'm looking for a PCI
> based 10/100 NIC of good quality for a Linux machine.
>
> I've been reading the http://www.scyld.com/ website for hints, and
> looking over the http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html for
> more tips on which cards are better than others. I've also been
> looking at price ranges and specs at http://www.mwave.com/ .
>
> Also, the latest Duke or URL Linux System guide recommends an SMC
> EtherPower II NIC card for their high end system:
> http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/linuxguide12/printable.shtml
>
> Here's a list...
>
> Manuf Chipset Driver Price
> ----------------------------------------------
> 3Com 3C905B-TX 3c59x.c $39
> 3C905C-TX 3c59x.c $41
> 3C905CX-TX 3c59x.c $42
>
> D-Link DFE-530TX via-rhine.c $14
>
> Intel PRO/100+ eepro100.c $35
> PRO/100S eepro100.c $37
>
> NetGear FA310TX tulip.c (?) $19
>
> LinkSys LNE100TX tulip.c $18
>
>
> Does anyone have experience with these as to which one is the best for
> a 100-base-T network? Somewhere I saw you should get one with at
> least an 8K buffer on board for high speed transfers. I saw a
> reference somewhere also that the 3Com cards almost always have only
> 4K, while the LinkSys and the Intel Pro/100S above have 16K.
>
> I consider all of the above roughly in the same price range. Of
> course, cheaper is always better, but I don't want to sacrifice
> quality for $10.
>
> Any recommendations?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
>
