Jeff, I ran a Realtek 8139 chip 10/100Mbps NIC, bought as a generic PC
part, in the lower slots (3-6 all tried at some stage), without problems
in OS9.x and 10.1, 10.2 for the last few years. Obtained the drivers
directly from the Realtek site at
<www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-3.aspx?series=16&Software=True#16Others>.
Seem to recall having to hack the OS9 driver using ResEdit (should be
instructions about it somewhere on the web) for it to run properly for
that OS, though no problems in OS10.2.
Ran into problems however, when I tried to do the same with a Gigabit
NIC using the Realtek 8169S chip. Drivers from Realtek caused all sorts
of problems resulting in a freeze in OS10.2. Recently thought I'd try
out 10.4 and that seemed to cure the problem with the 8169S chip
(drivers native in 10.4), although there is no OS 9.x versions of
drivers for this card.
On the OS10.4 install had to do it in a very roundabout way.
As this latest OS is on DVD my Mac ROM SCSI CD drive wasn't going to cut it.
Tried using an external Pioneer DVD writer through firewire with no
luck, even though read on OWC and xlr8yourmac.com sites that some have
been able to install in this way and firewire startup is supported in
latest version of XPostFacto.
Had to then try an IDE DVD drive through my ACard IDE PCI card - but the
DVD drive would not be recognised on my ACard 6860M. Go back to an
older ACard 6260 I had lying around, the IDE DVD drive was recognised
and the install went ahead without problem.
Once OS10.4 was installed properly though, the ACard 6260 would no
longer see the DVD in OS10.4, but external firewire DVD writer was now
recognised.
So anyway a roundabout install, but it can be done and have had no
problems with stability, even though only have a G4 running at 500MHz on
an XLR8 carrier card, seems smooth enough for the second computer that
my S900 has now become.
Pete (the guy who coined the 'RAM sandwich' moniker for Jeff's excellent
RAM testing config. suggestion, ex-Osaka, now in Sydney)
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 03:49:39 -0500
From: Jeff Walther <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [SM] RealTek Ethernet Cards?
Is anyone using a RealTek based Ethernet card in their S900 in the lower slots?
Apparently, their 8139 chipset finds its way on to many cards and the
Mac drivers are downloadable at RealTek's website.
The reason I ask is that I want to know if their drivers work
properly when the ethernet card is behind a PCI-PCI Bridge--i.e. in
the lower slots of the S900 or J700.
If they do, then I may give the SIIG USB/FireWire/Enet combo card a
try. It uses the 8139D chipset and they get three devices on the
card by sticking them all behind a PCI-PCI Bridge of course.
The other thing I need to check is whether their USB and FireWire
chipsets are supported by the Apple drivers. Anyone know how or
where to find that information? The chipsets are NEC 720100AGM-8EY
for the USB and TI143AB23 for the Firewire (I think). Actually, I
just Googled on the USB chipset number and brought up specs on
another card that uses it, which claims OS8.6 and forward
compatibility (OSX required for USB 2).
And googling and a visit to TI's site suggests that SIIG sent me a
typo and the Firewire chipset should be TSB43AB23, which TI lists as
OHCI 1.1 compliant. Is that the requirement to work with the Mac
drivers? It seems like I've read that somewhere.
Jeff Walther
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