Re: Realtek ethernet (was Re: recent mobo recommendation)
Ron Johnson put forth on 4/14/2010 8:28 AM:
> On 2010-04-13 22:50, Stan Hoeppner wrote:
>> Hugo Vanwoerkom put forth on 4/13/2010 3:53 PM:
> [snip]
>>
>> Either way, avoid onboard RealTek ethernet as it's not currently
>> supported
>> well by Debian. One might be able to make it work, but the process
>> requires
>> some serious hoop jumping.
>>
>
> Really? RealTek chips are as common as flies on horse poop, and works
> perfectly for me.
Check the list archives. Not long ago (couple months maybe) Debian released
a 2.6.3x.x (not sure if it was Stable or Testing) kernel that omitted the
RealTek firmware blob due to "non free" status of the code, thus bricking
ethernet for quite a few users who upgraded to the new kernel via regular
aptitude upgrades. Is this situation fixed with newer Debian kernels or are
you manually telling the driver where to grab the firmware file on the root
filesystem? Was this situation limited to just that one kernel release?
At least a couple of people on this list went out and bought non-RealTek PCI
NICs to fix the problem instead of reverting to the older kernel.
Looking at the big picture leads me to believe RTL chips aren't a good long
term solution, _especially_ for Debian users, since Debian is the most anal
about "free" code. This scenario could very well happen again in the future
if the Debian kernel team decides some future RealTek firmware isn't "free"
and removes the firmware blob again.
Additionally I've seen a number of people state their GigE RTL chips only
achieve about 1/3rd of wire speed whereas Intel chips get over 80% of wire
speed without jumbo frames. TTBOMK there has never been a "free" code issue
with Intel drivers or firmware. They have a very long term rock solid track
record.
Thus, I recommend users to stay away from RealTek chips and go with Intel
when they can. Yeah, RTL is "everywhere" because they're cheap as horse
dung, but there are plenty of alternatives, if one just looks around a bit.
AFAIK, for those who roll their own kernels from kernel.org source, there's
no problem with RTL chips if you compile all blobs into the kernel. For
those using stock Debian kernels, RTL chips have been a problem, and may yet
be again.
--
Stan
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