I went with the Intel Pro/100 MT Quad Port Server Adapter, but got a rude surprise after it arrived!
Contrary to all the sales literature, the card will _NOT_ fit in the standard 32-bit PCI slot, at least not those available in any local PC hardware, including the passive-backplane industrial rack-mount PC's purchased for this project. I did a lot of searching on the Intel site before purchasing it specifically to determine if it would fit, but everything indicated it would fit. After more searching I found an obscure notice that it will fit only 3.3 volt, 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI slots (key on inboard end of slot). It will not fit in 5 volt, 33 MHz slots (key on outboard end of slot) or "universal" 3.3/5 volt slots. http://support.intel.com/support/network/adapter/1000mtquad/sb/cs-009537.htm Now I've got an expensive card that I have to find another use for and I'll have to make do with fewer ports on its intended host. --Cal Webster On Thu, 2005-04-07 at 15:36, Calvin Webster wrote: > Thanks for the info Peter. > > Here are my choices so far: > > Intel: Intel PRO/1000 MT Quad Port Server Adapter $337 > Osicom: FE-2404-TX - 10/100BTX PCI FAST ENET NIC $329 > Adaptec: ANA-64044LV 4-Port, 64-bit/66 MHz PCI NIC $409 > > Obsolete but available in obscure locations: > > D-Link: DFE-570TX 4 port 21143 card (avail only on eBay) $80 > Phobos: P430 4-port 10/100 NIC (kernelsoftware.com) $248 > > > I'm thinking the Intel NIC would be best, but after looking at it on > intel.com I'm not sure it'll fit in a PCI slot. It looks like a PCI/X > card. > > My next choice would be the Osicom card for price/performance, but I've > never heard of them before. They say it's based on the Intel 82559 and > list "Linux" as a supported OS so it should work. > > Adaptec has had the quad NIC for quite a while, but I'm not sure if it > uses the tulip drivers that you warned against. Adaptec doesn't say what > chip set is used. > > The two "obsolete" cards I found while searching. I hesitate to get > these because (1) I'm not sure if they're supported, and (2) they may > not be available when we need replacements. > > Our firewall hardware platform uses a passive backplane chassis with > Cyber Research PIII-based single board computers. I can't find the SBC > documentation so I'm not sure if it'll handle 64-bit PCI transfers. Even > so, it shouldn't be worse than 4 single port NICs. > > Which would you favor? > > Thanks! > > --Cal Webster > > On Thu, 2005-04-07 at 14:08, Peter Mueller wrote: > > > I'd appreciate a recommendation from the list on which 4-port > > > NICs work best with the Bering uClibc distro? > > > > > > Any known problems using them with single-port NICs on the > > > same machine? > > > > The situation is the same as with a normal distro. uClibc uses modules; > > therefore, you can insert commands just like with a regular distro. Stay > > away from Tulip based 4-port cards. I have used Intel cards to good effect, > > especially with newer machines. Older servers sometimes have IRQ issues. > > > > On 4 servers here we are using 2 dual 64bit 66mhz+ Intel gigabit adapters to > > good effect. It is important to get 64bit 66mhz+ cards if you want to push > > a > > lot of bandwidth. > > > > Regards, > > > > P > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_ide95&alloc_id396&op=click > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > leaf-user mailing list: leaf-user@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user > > SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_ide95&alloc_id396&op=click > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > leaf-user mailing list: leaf-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user > SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: New Crystal Reports XI. Version 11 adds new functionality designed to reduce time involved in creating, integrating, and deploying reporting solutions. Free runtime info, new features, or free trial, at: http://www.businessobjects.com/devxi/728 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leaf-user mailing list: leaf-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html