Network Cards

If you’re planning on using Linux on a network, you’ll need a networking card. (If you’re not planning on using Linux on the network, you won’t need a card.) Other PC Unices require the presence of a network card to run (even on a single-user installation), but Linux is not one of them.

The following Ethernet cards have been tested and are supported under Linux: 3Com 3C501, 3C503, 3C505, 3C507, 3C509/3C509B (ISA)/3C579 (EISA); AMD LANCE (79C960)/PCnet-ISA/PCI (AT1500, HP J2405A, NE1500/NE2100); AT&T GIS WaveLAN; Allied Telesis AT1700; Ansel Communications AC3200 EISA; Apricot Xen-II; Cabletron E21xx; DEC DE425 (EISA) / DE434/DE435 (PCI); DEC DEPCA and EtherWORKS; HP PCLAN (27245 and 27xxx series); HP PCLAN PLUS (27247B and 27252A); HP 10/100VG PCLAN (ISA/EISA/PCI); Intel EtherExpress; Intel EtherExpress Pro; NE2000/NE1000 (not all clones work, however); New Media Ethernet; Racal-Interlan NI5210 (i82586 Ethernet chip); Racal-Interlan NI6510 (am7990 lance chip) (this board doesn’t work if your computer has more than 16MB of RAM); PureData PDUC8028, PDI8023; SEEQ 8005; SMC Ultra; Schneider & Koch G16; Western Digital WD80x3; and Zenith Z-Note/IBM ThinkPad 300 built-in adapter. The following pocket and portable adapters have been tested and will work with Linux: AT-Lan-Tec/RealTek parallel port adapter and D-Link DE600/DE620 parallel port adapter. The following methods can be used to connect to a network: SLIP/CSLIP/PPP (serial port); EQL (serial IP load balancing); and PLIP (parallel port) using a bidirectional cable.

In addition, Linux works with all ARCnet cards and the IBM Tropic chipset Token Ring cards. Finally, Linux will work with the following amateur radio (AX.25) cards: Ottawa PI/PI2 and most generic 8530-based HDLC boards.

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WARNING:  The following line appears in the HARDWARE-HOWTO regarding the 3Com 3C501: “avoid like the plague.”

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In addition, Linux will work with the following Ethernet cards once you go out and grab patches from the Internet. 3Com Demon Ethercards (3C592, 3C597 (100 mbps)) (EISA), with the patch at http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/vortex.html; 3Com Vortex Ethercards (3C590, 3C595 (100 mbps)) (PCI), with the patch at http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/vortex.html; DEC 21040/21140 Tulip, with a patch at http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/tulip.html; SMC PCI EtherPower 10/100, with a patch at http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/tulip.html; and the HP J2585 (PCI) and HP J2573 (ISA) (ATT2MDx1 / 100VG), with a patch at http://cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov:80/linux/drivers/100vg.html.

Dealing with a network card is like dealing with any other Linux hardware peripheral: you need to make sure it’s not conflicting with other PC hardware. Note the following from the Slackware FAQ:

Q. I also have an SMC card. I could only get mine to work on IRQ 3 or 4.

A. There might be a way to work around the problem, but I haven’t had time to go looking for it. I don’t know what happened but today when I rebooted my machine after power shutdown, the Ethernet card suddenly started working. I only changed the base address options in the drivers file to look for 0x2a0 address.

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WARNING:  Xircom adapters (PCMCIA and parallel port) are not supported.

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Multiport Controllers

Linux supports many multiport controllers. They fall into two groups: intelligent controllers and nonintelligent controllers. Supported nonintelligent controllers are: AST FourPort and clones (4 port); Accent Async-4 (4 port); Arnet Multiport-8 (8 port); Bell Technologies HUB6 (6 port); Boca BB-1004, 1008 (4, 8 port), with no DTR, DSR, and CD; Boca BB-2016 (16 port); Boca IO/AT66 (6 port); Boca IO 2by4 (4 serial/2 parallel, uses 5 IRQs); Computone ValuePort (4, 6, 8 port) (AST FourPort-compatible); DigiBoard PC/X (4, 8, 16 port); Comtrol Hostess 550 (4, 8 port); PC-COMM 4-port (4 port); SIIG I/O Expander 4S (4 port, uses 4 IRQs); STB 4-COM (4 port); Twincom ACI/550; and Usenet Serial Board II (4 port). These nonintelligent controllers usually come in two varieties:

•  The first uses standard port addresses and four IRQs.

•  The second is AST FourPort-compatible and uses a selectable block of addresses and a single IRQ. (Addresses and IRQs are set using the setserial utility.)

Linux supports the following intelligent multiport controllers: Cyclades Cyclom-8Y/16Y (8, 16 port) (ISA/PCI); Stallion EasyIO (ISA)/EasyConnection 8/32 (ISA/MCA); and Stallion EasyConnection 8/64 and ONboard (ISA/EISA/MCA)/Brumby/Stallion (ISA).

In addition, Table 1.3 lists multiport controllers that Linux will recognize after patches have been downloaded from the Internet and installed.

Modems

Again, if a modem works under DOS, it should work under Linux—whether it is internal or external. When you install Linux, you’ll need to specify the location of the modem (serial port 1, 2, 3, or 4). This also goes for PCMCIA modems.

You’ll need fax software to take advantage of a fax modem. Some fax modems require special programs: the Digicom Connection 96+/14.4+ needs a DSP code downloading program (which can be found at ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Serial/smdl-linux.1.02.tar.gz), and the ZyXEL U-1496 series needs ZyXEL 1.4, a modem/fax/voice control program (which can be found at ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Serial/ZyXEL-1.4.tar.gz).