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Date:      Mon, 16 Apr 2001 11:13:32 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Peter C. Wallace" <pcw@mesanet.com>
To:        Chris Dillon <cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us>
Cc:        Soren Kristensen <soren@soekris.com>, <freebsd-small@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: The ultimate board!
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.31.0104161110290.19290-100000@freeby.mesanet.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.32.0104161259180.1349-100000@mail.wolves.k12.mo.us>

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On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, Chris Dillon wrote:

> On Sat, 14 Apr 2001, Soren Kristensen wrote:
>
> > Hi Chris,
> >
> > I'm the hardware designer, so let me comments on your comments :-)
> >
> > Chris Dillon wrote:
> > >
> > > [...snip...]
> > > > sis0: <NatSemi DP83815 10/100BaseTX> port 0xe000-0xe0ff mem 0xa0000000-0xa0000ff
> > >
> > > Ewww... Is this a good enough Ethernet chipset?  I've not had good
> > > luck with any of SiS's stuff.  They seem to make, for lack of a nicer
> > > word, crap.
> > >
> >
> > This is not a SIS chip, but a National Semiconductor chip. They
> > have made ethernet chips for the last 20 years. I don't trust SIS
> > either, but I belive that the DP83815 is natsemi quality. I also
> > don't know why it's so close to the SIS chip, but natsemi probably
> > bought the MAC core design from SIS....
>
> The design of the core itself is what I'm wondering about.  Anybody
> can manufacture a quality chip these days, but it takes talent to
> design one.
>
> > The only limit on the DP83815 is the requirement for 32 bit
> > alligned RX buffers. Otherwise it has all the good features and is
> > cheap, $7 in 1K quantity.
>
> Not bad.  But what is the cost of some of the better chips such as the
> DEC/Intel 21143 or even an Intel 8255x at that quantity?

About 3-4 times the 83815... (when you add the PHY to the 21143 or use the
overpriced Intel chip...)

Besides I dont think I would do a new design with a 21143, who knows when
Intel will drop it...

PCW


>
>
> -- Chris Dillon - cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us - cdillon@inter-linc.net
>    FreeBSD: The fastest and most stable server OS on the planet.
>    For IA32 and Alpha architectures. IA64, PPC, and ARM under development.
>    http://www.freebsd.org
>
>
>
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>

Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics


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