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Re: PCI hardware



Hi,

On  14 Aug, this message from Björn Söderqvist echoed through cyberspace:
> Can powermacs use PCI cards built for PC?

In theory, most of them, yes.

> I have a 7600/132 and a
> Realtek 8139 NIC, it would be fun to use two networks so I could use
> the computer as a router.

Yes, that will one will work (mostly) ok. The limitation you will hit is
throughput, since for one the 8139 is one of the worst FastEthernet
chips ever designed, imposing a heavy load on the PCI bus and the host
processor. And for two, the PCI implementation of these early PCI Macs
was not _so_ great.

But the 8139 are relatively easy to get working, and most importantly,
dirt cheap.

> I guess that PCs and Macs use different PCI standards, and holy smoke
> will come out of the mac if I put the card in.

No, PCI is PCI is PCI. On every platform.

Cheers

Michel

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