Re: Does anyone have

[Scott Fraser <scott@fmgtech.com>]

>>
>         Does anyone have drivers for Compaq's line of server Ethernet
cards?
> I think they're called "netiquette" They're the standard cards on the
<<

I have used the Thunderlan ("tlan") driver with DeskPro's and their
integrated "NetFlex" controller.  It might work with other cards.
However, as recent as last week I was using the 1.0 tlan, and still had
problems on kernel 2.0.36.  Tcpdump showed me getting extra malformed
acks back from the compaq.  So the card sort of worked but the extra
acks were really screwing things up big time.  I had to give up and
disable the onboard card, and then install a 3Com and use that.

One thing to watch out for on Compaqs is they apparently have a
proprietary pci bios where they map it into some weird plice high in
memory.  Some of the drivers out there (including some by Becker) have
notes in the code about this, and places where you can even hard code
things that normally would be auto-detected.

You know you  have this problem if during boot up you see this:

>>
[scott@hoss scott]$ dmesg
Memory: sized by int13 0e801h
Console: 16 point font, 400 scans
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25, 1 virtual console (max 63)
pcibios_init : BIOS32 Service Directory structure at 0x000fa000
pcibios_init : BIOS32 Service Directory entry at 0xf3c00
pcibios_init : PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xf42b2
Probing PCI hardware.
PCI: 00:00 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:01 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:02 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:03 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:04 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:05 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:06 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
PCI: 00:07 [0e11/4000/060000] has unknown header type ff, ignoring.
<<

Basically I think Compaqs are the worst for Linux out there, but there
are plenty of people using them.  The whole Compaq design sucks, with
their setup utilities in an on-disk partition, their sometimes
proprietary hardware parts (like mounting kits), the BIOS optimized for
Windows and not at all "vanilla"...  YUCK!  Give me a nice Asus
motherboard and a nice Asus case any day over a Compaq, and I'll take
the money I save and go visit Florida or something.

-Scott

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