7 Dec
2006
7 Dec
'06
4:28 p.m.
On Thu, 7 Dec 2006, Jules Richardson wrote:
Out of interest, what do I need in the way of TCP/IP
software /
configuration and FTP client software so that I can connect to a remote
FTP server from MSDOS?
I don't think I've ever set up such a config from scratch. I can live
with 10Mbps speeds if required (would DOS drivers even drive a card at
anything more anyway?)
NIC cards I seem to have available:
Netgear FA310TX (PCI)
HP 88809L (ISA)
3Com Etherlink III (PCI)
3Com Etherlink III (ISA)
Asix NV100AM (PCI)
'Network Everywhere' NC100 (PCI)
3Com 3C905 (PCI)
The ISA boards perhaps have the drawback that they're software
configurable, so I have no idea what settings they'll want to use (or
which interface), or how well they'll behave in the new-ish system I
need to put a card in. The PCI boards on the other hand are newer so
maybe DOS drivers don't even exist for them...
(Etherlink III's were always reliable I seem to recall, but I never did
like the idea of them being software configurable; it was much nicer to
have jumpers on a card and *know* what it was configured as!)
All of the 3Com cards are software configurable. The utilities and drivers
are even available on 3Com's FTP site :)
3Com did tend to support their cards pretty well, and I never had any
problems getting different cards to work under dos with a packet driver.
The 3C905 is the faster of the 3Com cards you have there, as it supports
100mb. The Etherlink XL 3C900, etc also tended to work pretty well, though
they are limited to 10mb. The Etherlink III series 3C509, 3C509B are also
very well, supported, though again limited to 10mb. I'd choose a 509B over
the original 509 if you need to go with an ISA card though, as it has FIFO
support.
Some of my personal favorite cards were the so-called NE2500 cards (not
NE2000). The chips were made by AMD and their design was a lot more
refined than the original NE2000. They weren't as well supported as the
generic NE2000 though. All the NE2500 compatible cards I used also made
use of a software configuration utility much like the 3Com cards do.
-Toth