Subject: wm(4) versus em(4)
To: None <tech-kern@netbsd.org>
From: Brian Buhrow <buhrow@lothlorien.nfbcal.org>
List: tech-kern
Date: 12/07/2006 12:14:30
	Hello.  recently, I've been trying to get the wm(4) driver to work
with  some Intel fiber based gigE cards.  I've been having a lot of trouble
getting the driver to autonegotiate with Cisco 35XX switch gear, and when I
try to disable autonegotiation, things get even worse.  In looking at the
driver, it seems like it's out of date with respect to the behaviors of the
newer Intel 8254x chips, especially the fiber based ones.  The freeBSD and
OpenBSD folks are using Intel written drivers which seem to deal quite well
with the various version of the chip.  At this moment, I'm trying to decide
if it's easier to whip the wm(4) driver into shape, or if it would be
easier to port the em(4) driver from OpenBSD to NetBSD.  I'm sort of
leaning toward the latter, but wanted to ask here if anyone has thoughts on
the matter.  Is there any advantage to retaining the wm(4) driver over
porting the em(4) driver from Free/OpenBSD?  
	If I were to port the driver, would there be a lot of objection to
putting it in the tree?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreaciated.
-thanks
-Brian