[vortex] Will a 3com dual server nic work under linux

Donald Becker becker@scyld.com
Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:15:52 -0500 (EST)


On Fri, 15 Dec 2000, Thomas Lorenzen wrote:

> I am thinking about purchasing the 3com 3c982-TXM board with
> two ports built in. The description from 3com of this server
> nic is given below.
> 
> http://www.3com.com/products/nics/3c982c.html  
> 
> Basically I think, that what we are having here is just a
> nic with two ports, each to be given its own unique network
> address. My question is now, if linux and more specifically
> the vortex driver will support this card.

We haven't gotten any reports on this card.
My expectation is that it should just work, but it might require a new
driver PCI table entry.
My expectation was that this card would be two regular chips behind a bus
bridge.

The photograph shows a 64 bit card with a single chip, but the documentation
states the bus type as "32-bit PCI Hot-swap" so the photograph might not
match the product.

(Gripe: PCI cards are not "hot swap".  That is just advertising puffery.
Hot-swap is a feature of the motherboard and device driver.  The usual
implementation is that the PCI card hold-down connects to a switch on the
motherboard which turns off power to the slot.  The driver just treats this
as it would a CardBus device, with eject and insert events.  It's actually
easier, since you get many seconds of warning before the device goes away.
Sometimes CardBus devices are gone before you get the eject event.)

> If that is now the
> case, would anybody know about the Intel® PRO/100+ Dual Port
> Server Adapter and whether or not it is supported under
> linux.
> 
> Thanks for any help in advance.
> 
> Best Regards.
> 
> Thomas.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Cand. Scient. Thomas Lorenzen               Phone : (+ 45) 35 32 02 50
> Department of Chemistry                       Fax : (+ 45) 35 32 02 59
> University of Copenhagen                     Mail : tl@theory.ki.ku.dk
> DK, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark   Homepage : http://theochem.ki.ku.dk/~tl
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
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Donald Becker				becker@scyld.com
Scyld Computing Corporation		http://www.scyld.com
410 Severn Ave. Suite 210		Second Generation Beowulf Clusters
Annapolis MD 21403			410-990-9993