Pepse Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 Being that we are getting DSL out my way (I live in the country) I need to install an Ethernet card. I have 3 diiferent cards that I have acquired over the years (didn't want to toss them, but at the time had no use for them). What I need to know is which one would be best for Linux, if it matters on these cards. One is a D-Link DE-220T, another is a 3COM 3C595-TX but it has a sticker on the removable chip that says Farallon, and the other one is an SMC; not sure of the model number. The 3COM is PCI the other 2 are ISA. Like I said "I'm not sure if it matters but to be sure I decided to ask. I am still running MDK 9.0. I just got 9.1 Power Pak but I'm not yet ready to deal with it. Later. Pepse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 If I were you I would try the PCI one first. If the chipset is not all new, Mdk must detect it and 3COM is a big brand. Almost no risk there. roland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schussat Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 If I were you I would try the PCI one first. If the chipset is not all new, Mdk must detect it and 3COM is a big brand. Almost no risk there. Google suggests that both the 3Com and the D-Link cards are fairly old (making working drivers likely), so your best bet for auto-detection is probably the PCI 3Com. The D-Link looks like it uses the ne2000 driver, which I'm successfully using in an old PC at work -- so, your odds with one of those two are probably pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepse Posted September 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2003 :) I will check them out this weekend; the 3COM first. As for age of cards the most recent copyright is 1995 on the 3COM card, the other 2 are 1994. Later. Pepse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted September 19, 2003 Report Share Posted September 19, 2003 Hey use the 3com the 595 is pretty old but if you only use it for ADSL you only need the same spped as ADSL... 1/2mbit or 1 depending what you go for... But the drivers are specific as opposed to NE2000 The main point is that if you use the ISA bus at all you will waste interupts... A long time ago when I was younger and even more foolish I used a scalpel to but off the ISA bus completely and a hacked bios to get rid of it... The main thing is the resources will be better controlled by PCI and you don't need the isa-pnp installed. Howevr both of those cards (if mem serves) are dual std. they have both BNC and RJ45 ... If not they are both capable of it....(they might not have the connecter) You need to make sure the firmware is set to the RJ45 for your ADSL. Good choice going with ethernet btw :D Even if you pay a bit extra over USB its way more flexible and you'll have less config probs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepse Posted September 20, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 I put the 3com in and it is recognized in MCC. As for speeds from the provider I can choose 256k or 512K. At this time I can only afford 256k, but when you consider I am going from a 56k modem to 256k DSL; heck at this point 256k will be sceamin' to me. All 3 cards have only the RJ45 jack. Firmware?? My box or the provider?? As for not going USB, one of my thoughts was that Linux might not be totally set up for it. Another is that I feel better with a hardcard inside the box. Later. Pepse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepse Posted September 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Don't have the DSL yet (hopefully by the 1st of OCT.), but another question on this stuff is when it comes to routers do I need to avoid certain brands?? Like at Walmart they have one called Network Anywhere; yes that is the brand name. Since we have 2 computers I plan to get a router but gotta check to make sure. There was no information on the MDK hardware database page. Pepse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 In theory it shouldn't matter a hoot. The big difference will depend on your line (I don't know about the US but Im sure someone will help). There are two standards pppoe and pppoa Really pppoa is what is likely to be used by your ISP but it depends if your phone exchange is pppoa or pppoe. The ppp connection should be a direct nw connection to your ISP but for legacy reasons and extra authentification they often have you use a password/login The login is usually implemented by ppp using the normal tools and these cope with a telephone number to dial for dial up. Most ISP's tend to just modify this....so its like you set up your authentification as if it was a dail-up. This is stored in a file and just sent when you start the adsl service.... This bit is all easy .... finding exactly what it is they expect is the hard bit... sometimes its like user56@myprovider.net sometimes its just user56 and some ISPs seem to make it look like a phone number like 1-800-5600 As i said, this is all in theory.... Your ISP can implement whatever type of extra authentification or windows protcols they want.... so check with them. I always maintain sales staff are more forthcoming with this info before you purchase but BVC stated a coupe of really good US based ones who seem to actually give it you after too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepse Posted September 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 OK, that is helpful. A friend mentioned about getting a router because of that dial up type info and with 2 computers we could/would have 2 different logon address' or something like that. I remember for sure he said the router would keep things straight between the 2 computers, anyway. As for the brand I always try to check with the user boards before buying so as to not get something that Linux doesn't like. Thanx. Pepse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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