From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 17 19:08:25 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F11D106566B for ; Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from feenberg@nber.org) Received: from mail2.nber.org (mail2.nber.org [66.251.72.79]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 282358FC12 for ; Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:24 +0000 (UTC) Received: from nber6 (nber6.nber.org [66.251.72.76]) by mail2.nber.org (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id q4HIf9AO040039; Thu, 17 May 2012 14:41:10 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from feenberg@nber.org) Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 14:35:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Daniel Feenberg X-X-Sender: feenberg@nber6 To: Christian ROUSSEAU In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Anti-Virus: Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server 5.6.39/RELEASE, bases: 20120517 #8044092, check: 20120517 clean Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Network Cards Compatibility X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:25 -0000 On Thu, 17 May 2012, Christian ROUSSEAU wrote: > Greetings, > > I would like to have a list of the free bsd compatible > network cards . Is it compatible with realtek chipset drivers. That comes > with most PC's? > Just guessing, you have to restrict yourself to a very limited selection? You would do better to post a list of the cards available to you and ask what will work. I have purchased many very inexpensive (<$10) NICs and never had a compatibility problem with whatever was the latest FreeBSD version available at the time, although very expensive cards, and very new motherboard with embedded NICs have sometimes not worked. Also, if you are running an older version of FreeBSD you may have more difficulties. My cynical view is that the vendors of cheap cards don't bother to make modifications to the reference design, so they remain compatible. The official list of compatible NICs is sometimes difficult to reconcile with what is available in the local Micro-Center or Fry's, and I expect the situation is no better where you live. http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/CURRENT/hardware/support.html#ETHERNET The Intel Pro/1000 is our current favorite card, but is $35. It supports PXE booting, which we do a lot. Daniel Feenberg NBER