[K12OSN] Affordable Eprom source
Calvin Dodge
caldodge at gmail.com
Tue Jan 16 15:05:57 UTC 2007
On 1/16/07, Petre Scheie <petre at maltzen.net> wrote:
> e.g., Marvel. However, I have also read, although I don't know if this is accurate or
> not, that part of the reason that Realtek chips, and the cards they appear on, are so
> inexpensive is that they push more of the processing of the networking back onto the
> system's CPU. In other words, I have seen them derisively referred to as the 'winmodem'
The design has word-alignment issues, requiring extra work on the part
of the CPU to transmit/receive data. Donald Becker (originator of
many Linux NIC drivers) referred to it as "a stunningly bad design
choice".
I think they're suitable for diskless workstations, but I wouldn't use
them in a server.
> criticisms of Realtek chips may be just propaganda from friends of Intel & 3Com, and
> that extra $40 may be wasted. I'm not certain. I'd be curious as to anyone else's opinion.
I prefer Intel NICs, FWIW. That's not some generic Intel prejudice on
my part - all my home systems (and most which I assemble for others)
use Athlon 64s. The Linux server companies I'm familiar with (Penguin,
ABMX) also seem to concur on Intel NICs.
Calvin
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