Re: Which network card to buy
On Mon, 26 Apr 1999, Doug Thistlethwaite wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am setting up a Debian system as a firewall so I will need to buy a
> network cards. Which network cards have you had good luck with? What
> should I look for and stay away from?
I'd avoid ISA cards. If you ever plan to go to 100Mbit Ethernet, ISA will
limit your potential performance - it can't move more than about 8MB/sec
in the best case, and usually a lot less. PCI also is a bit more
intelligent and doesn't tie up your CPU quite so much.
> the system I am going to use has a built-in network card on the
> motherboard. This is a DELL Pent 133 system we purchased a few years
> ago. I have one free PCI slot on this computer, so I have two choices.
>
> 1. But 1 PCI card and use the motherboard network card.
> 2. Buy 2 ISA cards and just ignore the motherboard network card.
Find out what kind of networking chipset is built into the motherboard.
Is it Intel, 3com, or what? Then check the Hardware HOWTO to make sure
it's supported. You could also ask on the linux-net@vger.rutgers.edu
mailing list for card recommendations.
Sincerely,
Ray Ingles (248) 377-7735 ray.ingles@fanucrobotics.com
"Improvements succeeded each other so rapidly, that machines which had
never been finished were abandoned in the hands of their makers,
because new improvements had superceded their utility."
Charles Babbage 'On the Economy of Manufactures' 1832
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