Re: Ethernet-Card for Laptop
On Fri, 26 Nov 1999, Goswin Brederlow wrote:
>> >> The issue of Cardbus being required for 100baseT is definately worth
>> >> noting.
>> >
>> >It's also not true. I have a 100baseT PCMCIA card. I haven't tried
>> >measuring the actual throughput, but it's definately much faster on a
>> >100baseT network than a 10baseT network. (And it's capable of talking
>> >on a 100baseT network, which a 10-only card is not.)
>>
>> 1a) Most 100baseT networks will auto-negotiate to 10baseT if needed.
>
>Only if you have a 10/100 switch that works fine.
Which from my experience means more 100baseT networks.
>On a 10/100 Hub all ports will drop to 10 MBit/s and the network will
>be slow. Also all Windows PCs will probably have to be rebooted or
>even manually switched to 10 MBit/s in the configuration.
I have never seen a 10/100 hub. If you want a 10baseT hub then surely you'd
just buy one and not pay more for an expensive 100baseT hub only to use it as
10baseT!
>If you have a cheap 100 MBit Hub it might not switch to 10 MBit and
>then it doesn´t work at all with a 10 MBit/s card.
Just don't do that.
>> 1b) Those which don't will have spare 10baseT ports anyway.
>
>??? Where from? A switch? Mixed 10/100 MBit networks are
>expensive. Its much cheaper to buy a second network card and setup one
>linuxbox as gateway, if linux is present, than to have a switch. And
>if you have only 100 MBit cards you won´t have 10 MBit switch or
>gateway ready.
All 100baseT networks I've seen in the last few years have been switched and
this hasn't been an issue.
>> 2) If 100baseT on PC-Card is only capable of 20Mb/s as has been suggested
>> then it is still capable of being faster than 10baseT while (IMHO) not being
>> fast enough to justify extra expense or effort. Also there is the issue of
>> the amount of CPU time required for transfers. I expect that CardBus will
>> require less CPU time which is something that interests me!
>
>I have one 100 MBit card in my Alpha and a 10 MBit card in my old
>PC. Also at work they have a 100/10 MBit network via Linux gateway and
>hubs. If I had a 10 MBit card for my Laptop I couldn´t just plug it in
>at work, but would have to get a cable connected to the right hub,
>i.e. I would have to grab the cable and follow it till I reach the hub
>and then maybe plug it into the other one. 10 MBit/s cards can be
>realy anoying.
>
>The only problem with 100 MBit cards is that they don´t have a BNC
>connector, but who is using BNC only nowadays?
Lots of people at users groups, demo-fests, and other places where they often
don't have the latest and greatest hardware.
>I have a "Fiber Line 16 Bit 10/100 Fast Ethernet" card in my laptop
>and it works great.
>
>Only problem is the throughput. On a 100 MBit/s switched network I get
>11 MBit/s and a lot of CPU useage. Anything I could configure
>differently to make it faster or is that the limit of pcmcia?
This sounds like the PC-Card performance issue we were discussing. If so
then there's no solution apart from getting a new Cardbus card.
--
Electronic information tampers with your soul.
Reply to: