Re: RealTek RTL8129/8139 Fast Ethernet driver for kernel 2.4.14

[Emil Pedersen <emil.pedersen@its.uu.se>]

mobtek mobtekl wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 19 Nov 2001 11:57:35 -0600
> Nathan E Norman <nnorman@micromuse.com> wrote:
> 
> Wierd, I'm using two of these cards on 2.4.13 without any probs whatsoever. > I've generally found them to be really reliable cards.
> 
> cheers peter vdm
> 
> >
> > Yes.  I solved it be throwing the cards in the garbage and installing
> > real NICs.
> >


I think it's important to be very precise what chip is used;  I've heard
lots of trouble with the chip '8139C' (note the trailing 'C') while I
use three cards based on '8139' (no C) for a long time without any
problem.

These days there seem to be three (four?) different drivers depending on
what flavor of chip you got.  I've used 'rtl8139' and '8139too' , both
woorked for me.  Since I don't have any card with the C chip I haven't
tried the specific driver for these cards.

(I sometime long ago asked what the differns was between the drivers
rtl8139 and 8139too and got the impression one should stick with
rtl8139.  Not that there was anything really wrong with 8139too, but
more in a "don't fix what ain't broken" thinking.  I don't know is this
is a valid option now, or even if it was at that time.)

I think one should be carefull when judgeing a whole line of cards, and
make very sure one judge the right ones...

Regards,
	Emil