Realtek 8111B LAN Chipset

[Shawn Barnhart]

Bernd Walter wrote:
> Realtek has two devices for Gbit PCI: the 8169 and the reduced 8110.
> They are both more or less the same - likely even the same chip inside,
> but the later has pins reduced.
> AFAIK the later can't have an external PHY, which you can't have anyway
> if there is neither a connector or PHY itself connected on the board.
> The 8168 is the successor for PCI express, with the 8111 being the new
> reduced variant.
> Both PCIe are detected but didn't run stable with our re(4), but it is
> said that the latest driver fixes this and also adds a good speed
> improvement
I bought an 8169 based card due to time and local availability issues 
and the re(4) driver sucked it hard in 6.3 and the card wasn't stable.  
I ended up with an Intel card which works fine.

I've noticed that re(4) has recently been overhauled extensively (as in 
the last week), will these changes ever get merged back into
6_STABLE, or do they depend on changes only present in 7.X onward?

For $20, its barely worth my time to run the thing back to the store and 
recent SWMBO de-cluttering regulations require it to be used or tossed.

-Shawn