19 Apr
2004
19 Apr
'04
4:49 p.m.
On 4/17/2004 08:00 AM -0500, cctech-request(a)classiccmp.org wrote:
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 20:49:04 -0400
From: Paul Koning <pkoning(a)equallogic.com>
Subject: RE: WTB: Pro380, VAXstation
To: arcarlini(a)iee.org, cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
In the process of debugging that driver, the programmer involved with it,
found and identified a number of problems/bugs that Intel was unaware of
and refused to admit to until they finally isolated and fixed them in a
later rev.
Dave. (I only did NFT and FALs on DECnet-PRO)
>>>> "Antonio" == Antonio
Carlini <arcarlini(a)iee.org> writes:
> As for a Pro being the easiest route, I
wouldn't say so. The bus
> architecture is completely unrelated to that of any other PDP11,
> and ugly/messy/baroque/bogus at that. There is NO DMA. The
> Ethernet card uses the worst Ethernet chip I know.
Antonio> Out of interest, which chip would that be?
Intel 82586, if I remember right. It uses queues, not rings, for its
commands. There are race conditions in the programming interface so
that the chip sometimes sets a queue to empty at the same time that
the driver puts a new entry on the queue, which forces the driver to
notice that and repair the confusion.
This is why real Ethernet chips use rings.
paul