I have just come into the opportunity to replace the 8-bit network card
that has served me so faithfully for the last few years under NetBSD,
namely my ol' trusty 3C503 "etherlink-II".  This card does indeed work,
but it has its problems.  Using the on-board dual-port ram it is pretty
wretched with NFS (so I have just not used NFS).  Ever since the advent
of NetBSD-1.1 I get lots of ring-buffer overflows (but it keeps on going,
no doubt to robust behaviour of TCP/IP at higher levels), but I digress.

I now have the following 16-bit cards at my fingertips:  The SMC/WD 8013,
The SMC 8216 "Elite/Ultra", and the Intel "Ether/express".  Which do folks
recommend and why?  I replaced the 3Com with the 8013 and can measure a
factor of 4 speed-up on incoming FTP, and maybe a 1.5 speed-up outgoing,
and no more ring-buffer overflow messages.  This is nice for now, but is
one of the other cards available to me a real winner?

	Tom

-- 
	Tom Trebisky			Steward Observatory
	ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu	University of Arizona
	(520) 621-5135			Tucson, Arizona 85721