good nic for server??? 3com 3C2000-T driver support in freebsd 5.4 ????

[Nathan Vidican]

kyr wrote:
> I want to ask if 3com 3C2000-T network adapter is suported by freebsd 
> 5.4 (i know that it is suported by release 6 but our server has 5.4).
> Anyway does anybody have any suggestion for a good network card for a 
> server?
> We DON"T need gigabit but if it worth the money ... ok
> 
> thanks
> Kyriakos
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> 

As someone as already replied: HANDS-DOWN, best 100mbit card I've ever used 
(regardless of O/S) and best supported by various O/S's for that matter is the 
Intel EtherExpress Pro 100 cards, specifically the older Pro 100/B's if you can 
get them - used to buy them in bulk lots on ebay for like $5-$10 / each, 
retail/new they run about $45/each but are worth every cent.

Stability and performance from these cards are rock solid. They make use of the 
fxp driver, and a few versions back (quite a few actually) FreeBSD moved over 
from an fxp driver that ran 'standalone', to a newer fxp driver which now 
requires the mIIbus driver too - I don't know what ramifications if any this has 
had on performance - but as far as the hardware goes I still trust these cards 
explicitly. Not know the differences in the code well enough to tell you 
what/why and can't even remember when that changed actually... but I've been 
using these intel boards and the fxp driver on FreeBSD since 2.2.1-release 
without a single hitch, including used boards from ebay ;) lol - come to think 
of it, still have a couple little 486 running 2.2.x branch around here with 
these intel cards in them :) - for what it's worth, they're still running (uh, 
not anything critical mind you, the rest of the machine/software's fairly dated 
for that).

I have however had horrible experiences with d-link, nvidia, admtek, and various 
realtek chipsets on 'generic' cheap cards... bottom line, you generally pay for 
what you get - and if you want solid 100mbps performance, you can bank on Intel 
net cards. I don't know about 3Com, some cards I've had great luck with, others 
a pain in the ass... specifically the 3C905 series, rev 'A' was ok, 'C' too - 
but if ya had a revision 'B' - watch out kinda thing... gave up on using 3Com 
cards way back because of that - wait till you know the product's solid and 
complete before you release it, re-releasing stuff or fixing it after you sold 
it is a micrsoft thing, not something I'd expect from my hardware manufacturer.

Just my two cents, but hope it helps.



-- 
Nathan Vidican
nvidican at wmptl.com
Windsor Match Plate & Tool Ltd.
http://www.wmptl.com/