iMac and FreeBSD performance problems

[Anthony Anderberg]

> the iMac to a 10BT hub instead of the ethernet switch then everything
> seems to work fine as well.  The iMac can talk to all the other equipment
> without a problem when its connected to the ethernet switch.  Likewise

Sounds like a duplex mis-match, which is especially 
common with unmanaged switches.  The problem 
is that the computer and switch don't agree whether 
their link is full duplex or half duplex.  The result is 
undetected collisions which must be retransmitted 
via TCP timeouts instead of being retransmitted right 
away by the NICs.  I'd suggest setting the duplex on 
the switch ports if possible and devices to see if a 
combination works better, I'm not sure about the Mac 
but you can get a list of media options on FreeBSD 
using "ifconfig -m".

Best wishes,
anthony