patch-2.3.48 linux/Documentation/networking/8139too.txt

• Lines: 195
• Date: Thu Feb 24 10:11:24 2000
• Orig file: v2.3.47/linux/Documentation/networking/8139too.txt
• Orig date: Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969

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+
+		"8139too" Fast Ethernet driver for Linux
+	  Improved support for RTL-8139 Fast Ethernet adapters
+
+	 Copyright 2000 Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@mandrakesoft.com>
+
+
+	      Architectures supported (all PCI platforms):
+		    x86, Alpha AXP, PowerPC, Sparc64
+
+
+
+
+Disclaimer
+----------
+
+THIS DRIVER IS A DEVELOPMENT RELEASE FOR A DEVELOPMENT KERNEL.  DO NOT
+USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT.
+
+DO NOT CONTACT DONALD BECKER FOR SUPPORT OF THIS DRIVER, his driver is
+completely different and maintained independently of the 8139too code base.
+
+
+
+Requirements
+------------
+Kernel 2.3.41 or later.
+A Fast Ethernet adapter containing an RTL8139-based chip.
+
+
+
+Introduction
+------------
+
+The "8139too" Fast Ethernet driver for Linux 2.4.0 is a substantial
+modification of the experimental rtl8139 driver from Donald Becker,
+some versions of which appeared in 2.2.x and 2.3.x kernels.  The
+RTL-8139 is a very low-cost Fast Ethernet chip, which makes it very
+popular.
+
+The step from 2.2.x to 2.4.x kernels brings many new features to Linux
+device drivers.  Features for MMIO resources, a standard hot-plug API,
+and other interfaces are now becoming requirements, as drivers move
+off the x86 platform.  With that in mind, I have begun updating the
+RTL-8139 driver to current 2.3.x (2.4) kernel standards and APIs, and
+fixing the problems that users have been encountering.
+
+
+
+Features of 8139too
+-------------------
+[note - this list intended for people familiar with kernel drivers]
+
+** 100% MMIO, for full speed operation.  All users (so far) have
+reported performance increases over their existing RTL drivers.
+
+** Multi-platform support:  x86, Alpha, PPC, ...
+
+** Use proper SMP spinlocking, fixing SMP interrupt bugs, making the
+driver portable to non-x86 SMP platforms in the process.
+
+** Use new PCI driver API for seamless, low-maintenance hot-plug support
+
+** Several bugs fixes from original rtl8139 1.08r (October 5, 1999),
+including the very common "transmit timeout" problem.
+
+* Use new resource allocation API, required for hot-plug support
+* Use new register read/write macros
+* initcall support (module_init/exit)
+* vastly improved debug tracing support
+* code formatting in many places for readability
+* use new init_etherdev() facilities
+
+...and probably some other less important changes which I forgot.
+
+
+
+Installation
+------------
+
+OPTION 1: Build inside kernel tree (into kernel image, or as module)
+
+	(overwrite 8139too driver in kernel tree with different version)
+	1) cp 8139too.c $my_source_tree/drivers/net/8139too.c
+	
+OPTION 2: Build outside kernel tree
+
+	Use the included Makefile.
+
+
+
+Tested Adapters
+---------------
+AOpen ALN-325C
+KTI KF-230TX
+KTI KF-230TX/2
+
+(please add your adapter model to this list)
+
+
+
+Status of Platform Support
+--------------------------
+
+(see errata below for details)
+
+x86:		tested, stable
+Alpha AXP:	tested, stable
+PowerPC:	tested, unstable
+Sparc64:	not tested
+
+
+
+Special Thanks
+--------------
+The following people contributed invaluable testing time, feedback
+and/or patches during the development of this driver.  Thanks to all
+of them.
+
+Donald Becker, Alan Cox, Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds - inspiration
+
+Alan Cox, Gerard Roudier - insight on posted MMIO writes
+
+Martin Mares - code review
+
+Tigran Aivazian - testing, code review, and a bug fix
+
+Chmouel Boudjnah, Alexander Dietrich, Oleg Drokin,
+James Fidell, Taso Hatzi, Peter K - intrepid test team
+
+And thanks to every supporter free software.
+
+
+
+Known Bugs / Errata / To-Do
+---------------------------
+The following issues are known, and are actively being pursued.  Patches
+to resolve these issues is welcome.  If a problem occurs which is not in
+the list, please report it.  That's why we do beta releases, after all...
+
+
+
+1) Work with Donald to merge fixes and updates into his driver.
+
+2) 2.2.x COMPATIBILITY SUPPORT IS BROKEN.  DO NOT USE IT.
+It is included only for enterprising hackers willing to help fix it.
+
+3) PPC platform has stability problems.
+
+4) Sparc64 platform not tested at all.
+
+5) Identify and fix "rx wedge" when ping flooded.
+
+7) N-Way auto-negotiation is known to fail in some cases.  This problem
+also occurs in the rtl8139 driver in kernels 2.2.x/2.3.x.  Solution:
+Following technique in sunhme and sunbmac, use a kernel timer to
+manually perform autonegotiation in case the network or card cannot do
+it automatically.  (patches welcome)
+
+8) Much improved command line / module parameter setup.  (patches and
+suggestions welcome)
+
+9) Better documentation.  (patches welcome)
+
+10) User-mode (or maybe optional /proc) diagnostics program.
+
+
+
+
+Change History
+--------------
+Version 0.9.3.3.2 - Feb 22, 2000 - second public beta release
+
+* Begin integration of Daniel Kobras' MMIO flush patch (disabled for now)
+* Softnet logic updates to fix bugs and improve performance
+* Dynamic sizing of I/O resources (0x80 for older chips, 0xFF for newer ones)
+* Remove bogus SiS entries from PCI probe table
+* Add support for cards
+	"Delta Electronics 8139 10/100BaseTX"
+	"Addtron Technolgy 8139 10/100BaseTX"
+* Fix major bug with rx ring buffer size (also present in rtl8139.c 1.08r)
+* PCI DMA mapping by Dave Miller
+* Complete rewrite of SMP locking logic
+* Hotplug support
+* Call rtl8139_hw_start from rtl8139_open, and remove duplicated code
+  from rtl8139_open
+* Reset NWay registers to sane defaults on rtl8139_open/hw_start
+* Miscellaneous code cleanup
+
+Version 0.7.0 - Feb 7, 2000 - first public beta release
+
+
+[EOF]
+