root/drivers/net/README.de4x5

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The de425/de434/de435/de500 driver in this distribution  is designed to work
with  the  Digital Equipment Corporation   series of PCI/EISA ethernet cards
(DE425, DE434, DE435, DE500) and with all kernels that support PCI.

Auto media detection is provided so that the  media choice isn't compiled in
and is  flexible enough to be able  to  reconfigure on-the-fly. This feature
hasn't been included for the DE500 unfortunately, due  to a potential patent
dispute. When I get around to implementing the autosense algorithm by myself
(which could legally be difficult to prove since I'm  part of the group that
has implemented the patented algorithm) you'll  have an auto speed selection
for the de500. If you want the auto speed feature yell at Digital. If enough
of you do things might change.

The ability to load   this driver as  a loadable  module has been  included,
although I don't recommend its use with PCI, since PCI dynamically allocates
where the card will go at boot time (i.e. the  card would have to be present
in the system at boot time for its address/IRQ to be assigned).

The performance we've achieved  so far has  been measured through the 'ttcp'
tool at 1.06MB/s for  TCP  and 1.17MB/s for  UDP.   This measures  the total
stack performance which  includes the  card, so don't   expect to get   much
nearer the 1.25MB/s theoretical ethernet rate.

                TCP           UDP
             TX     RX     TX     RX
    DE425   1030k  997k   1170k  1128k                 (EISA on a Dell 433DE)
    DE434   1063k  995k   1170k  1125k                 (PCI: DECpc XL 466d2)
    DE435   1063k  995k   1170k  1125k                 (PCI: DECpc XL 466d2)
    DE500   1063k  998k   1170k  1125k  in 10Mb/s mode (PCI: DECpc XL 466d2)

All  values are   typical  (in kBytes/sec) from   a  sample of   4  for each
measurement. Their error  is approx +/-20k on a  quiet (private) network and
also depend on what load the CPU has, CPU speed etc.

ZYNX and SMC cards, which use the PCI DECchip  DC21040, are not specifically
supported in this driver because

a) I have  no information on them.   
b) I cannot test  them with the driver.
c) Donald Becker's 'tulip.c' driver  works with them....well one person says
   they do and another says they do not, so take your pick!

This driver can be made to work with the ZYNX  (and may be  the SMC) card by
setting a compile time flag (IS_NOT_DEC) in linux/drivers/net/CONFIG

Enjoy!

Dave

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