Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:12:53 +0100 (BST) From: Gordon Henderson <gordon@drogon.net> To: C Matthew Curtin <cmcurtin@research.megasoft.com> Cc: Brandon Gillespie <brandon@tombstone.sunrem.com>, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 3COM network cards.. Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960821170847.14605E-100000@unicorn> In-Reply-To: <199608201738.NAA01557@goffette.research.megasoft.com>
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On Tue, 20 Aug 1996, C Matthew Curtin wrote: > >>>>> "BG" == Brandon Gillespie <brandon@tombstone.sunrem.com> writes: > > BG> I'm looking to find a good card to use on a router with a CSU/DSU > BG> unit (freeBSD router), any suggestions? Is the 3Com 590-COMBO? > BG> TPO? > > I just installed a FreeBSD-based firewall bastion host using 3Com > cards. In the first setup, I had a 3c590 and 3c595. The 3c590 > interface kept having problems and filled up buffers after about 1700 > or so bytes attempted to be sent through it. I'd need to bring the > interface down and back up to clear the queue and restore buffer > space. (Didn't have any software misconfigurations like messed up MTUs > or anything...I did check :-) > > The 3c595 never had this problem. We swapped the 595 and 590, and the > problem continued on the 590's interface. Got rid of the 590 and used > a second 595, and it's been rock solid since. > > Very strange. I know very little about PC hardware (used to Sun, IBM > RS/6000, and SGI hardware), so I'm not sure exactly what might have > been going on below the OS... 3comm changed the hardware spec. on the 590's after they were released. They reduced the FIFO size - the result was that the 590 drivers for both BSDi and FreeBSD croaked on them. Surprisingly it's the same fault - you do a FTP of a long file or whatever and it stalls needing an ifconfig down/up to get it going again which is wholly unnaceptable if you don't have console access!!! The BSDI driver has been fixed but to my knowledge the FreeBSD one is still broken (yea, I know, it's the hardware thats broken, but.) Also, I belive that the drivers use PIO mode and don't yet use PCI DMA facilities so it's not gonig to be any faster than an ISA 509 or a good NE2000 card. Gordon
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