Re: new root and base disks available!
Alexander Jolk wrote:
> Loic Prylli <lprylli@graville.fdn.fr> writes:
>
> > Paul Slootman <paul@wau.mis.ah.nl> writes:
> > > Besides that, the kernel on the rescue disk I used didn't autodetect where I had
> > > connected the network on my multia (which was coax); luckily I had a
> > > tranceiver handy and used that to connect my coax to the AUI port, after
> > > which I could ping my system with the packages (after ifconfig
> > > etc.).
> >
> > That again is a problem of the kernel, and though we should address it
> > either by documentation (maybe a command-line option to the kernel can
> > help there) or by generating custom kernel, it is not linked to the
> > root disk itself.
> >
>
> I remember seeing this very problem with the old root/boot-disks as
> well. On my UDB, it turned out that the tulip network interface
> driver doesn't do autodetection well, while the `other' driver, the
> de4x5, does it correctly. If there aren't severe problems with the
> de4x5 driver on other platforms, I would suggest switching to this
> driver in the root floppy.
>
Tulip.o does a much better job handling non-DEC Enet cards.
de4x5 basically works only on real DEC HW. If you use
de4x5, it won't work on my systems and lots of other people's.
Tulip is preferred by most people running 21x4x on Alpha,
particularly those using 100B-TX.
I believe most people using Linux Alpha are running on non-DEC
systems. Note MB is a DEC design but, it doesn't usually have
a built in Enet which leaves selection up to the buyer.
Your comment that Tulip doesn't do selection as well as de4x5 is
incorrect. When you have to cope with a dozen different card designs,
the problem is much more difficult than a single manufacturer's
products. In general, tulip's weakness is due to the many varied
ways one can set up a 21x4x chip on it's programmable pins.
16 ways for each chip set (21040/21140/21142/21143/etc.).
And, you have to hope the manufacturer put the correct
pin settings in the EEPROM! Quite a few don't.
If you use MII , tulip works great. When you have cards
that are non-MII, then you get into trouble with tulip. I have
used non-MII on tulip and it works for some cards. Sounds
like the DEC stuff is non-MII. I only buy/recommend MII
cards for tulip though. MII let's the HW deal with what media
is being connected.
Wes
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