On Tue, Apr 18, 2006 at 03:04:43PM -0400, Rick Thomas wrote:
>
> Many of the old 10Mbit hubs didn't handle speed and/or duplex
> negotiation as well as modern specs require.
>
> Is it possible that the installer's driver software (or the associated
> configuration files) are less sophisticated (or assume more
> sophistication on the part of the hardware) than those available after
> the install is completed?
>
> It may be necessary to configure the 10/100 interface to hard-coded
> 10Mbit and half-duplex to get it to talk to your 10 Mbit hub.
>
> My recommendation would be to replace the 10Mbit hub with a modern
> 10/100Mbit switch and donate the old one to a museum somewhere...
I suppose 'change your hardware to something better supported' is
always going to be a possible solution to an installation problem,
but won't be much help to the next person who tries the same combination.
It only seems to be a problem with Debian installation,
which I have now completed, so it is only an issue for others yet to
try do their install - replacing my hub won't help them...
In any case, 10/100Mbit switch would be a bit of an overkill for my network,
which is mostly 10Mb machines - and most of those use 10Base2 (which
is better than UTP when you want to daisy chain machines around a
house). the 10Mb hub is primarily a bridge between the 10Base2
network and the few machines that I have with UTP connectors.
The network includes 3 NCD HMX X-terminals, several 680x0 VME
computers running OS-9/68K, a few old Sparcstation 2's and
the 24/7 server machine on which I am writing this email:
BSDI BSD/OS 3.1 Kernel #37: Tue May 10 17:40:33 GMT/BST 2005
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:/usr/src/sys/compile/LOCAL
cpu = 80486 (about 50 MHz) model 3, stepping 5, type 0, features 3
delay multiplier 848
real mem = 50331648 (48.00 MB)
which is slow by modern standards, but perfectly adequate for most
things I need to do if I stick to fvwm instead of KDE or Gnome.
I prefer to develop on modest hardware to make sure my code doesn't
bloat and slow down the way Microsoft stuff does. When I later put
it on something more modern, then it just runs embarassingly fast.
So I don't think the 10Mb hub is a bottle neck for me, and it certainly
isn't the oldest piece of hardware by a long shot. It probably
isn't worth spending money on a replacement just to streamline Debian
installs (and I am not sure a 10/100Mb switch will help if the notebook
is the only 100Mb device connected to the switch) as I at least have a
work around if I need to re-install.
The last Debian install I did was on a Toshiba Libretto 100CT with a
10/100Mb PCMCIA Lan card, which worked fine on the same hub, which is
why I think the problem is more likely with the driver setup in the
install system.
So it looks to me like there is a problem with at least some 10/100
interfaces on 10Mb networks, and if it can't be fixed and a workaround
cant be found, then perhaps it just needs to be warned about in the
install notes.
Regards,
DigbyT
--
Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com
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