[clug] a NIC to avoid

[Patrick Cole]

Bob,

Out of interest, did you try the 8139cp driver, which is required
for this sort of card?

Wed, Aug 02, 2006 at 10:42:03AM +1000, Robert Edwards wrote:


> Whilst waiting for me to do some work on a hardware compatability
> database, here is a negative entry for it.
> 
> A local supplier recently supplied a number of "Skymaster" "Realtek
> 8139D" 100Mbps LAN cards (to be used in a lab here). The boxes and
> the main chip are both clearly labelled as RTL8139D. However, the
> PCI ID is 1904:8139 (use "lspci -n") and this isn't recognised by
> the 8139too module in the kernel (2.6.15 etc.).
> 
> You might think that adding this PCI ID to drivers/net/8139too.c
> in the kernel source and re-compiling the module would fix this -
> it doesn't.
> 
> Turns out that this PCI ID isn't actually a RealTek 8139D at all,
> but a fake that has been labelled this. The fakes are mainly sold
> in Brazil and India, according to research I have done on the web.
> They are supplied with a driver disk that makes the card work on
> Windows etc. but the driver so loaded will not work with real
> RTL8139D-based cards (nor is the card recognised, apparently, by
> WinXP, even though real RTL8139Ds are).
> 
> Anyway, if you are after a really cheap 100Mbps NIC for your router
> etc. I would advise steering well clear of the "Skymaster" range
> (others would advise staying away from any RealTek NIC, but that
> is another story).
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bob Edwards
> -- 
> linux mailing list
> linux at lists.samba.org
> https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/linux