Re: Realtek ethernet (was Re: recent mobo recommendation)
On 2010-04-14 21:58, Stan Hoeppner wrote:
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?
Nothing I've seen in dmesg has ever led me to think that the r8169
driver in my Sid linux-source-2.6.31 kernel (yes, it's old; .32 and
33 fail to build) loads a blob.
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.
I sort of remember that.
[snip]
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.
I'm not surprised. Since I'm only connected to a small 100Mbps LAN
which then connects to a 12Mbps cable modem, it doesn't really
affect me.
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.
Maybe if I ever get .32 or .33 I'll squeal in anger. Until then...
--
Dissent is patriotic, remember?
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