Subject: Re: Network Interface Cards
To: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
From: Andrew Gillham <gillham@vaultron.com>
List: port-i386
Date: 09/29/2000 15:26:28
Jonathan Stone writes:
> 
> 3c509s, if you can find them reasonably priced.  (i've seen still some
> on retail for just over $100, a top-of-the-line price from 1994 or so).
> 
> If you go shopping for ISA cards, you're most likely to find some
> variety of ne-2000 clone or derivative.  Many of these have some
> proprietary flavour of media control -- e.g., full-duplex, or
> switching between 10base2 and 10baseT).  It's worse with PCMCIA, where
> support for 100Mbit modes or PHY i/o lines is also proprietary.

You can get system pulls for around $15USD.  Take a look at pricewatch.com
and you'll see them.

At http://www.compgeeks.com/ they're showing 3C509B-TP cards for $15,
and I know some people that have ordered from them and were happy.

For PCI cards, take a look at http://www.alancomputech.com/ under network
cards. :-)  I've ordered from them and so have some friends.  They seem
fine, but YMMV.

I bought the "Compaq NC3131 Fast Ethernet NIC" which is basically an
Intel EtherExpress/100+  (82558 based with INPHY) for $19USD.

At $19 I could not pass them up.  That was only a few bucks more than I
was paying for "cheap crap" cards.  These cards have PXE support and I was
able to flash them with the very latest code from Intel.  If you buy enough
I think they will give you free shipping. (you have to call though)

They also have 3C905C-TXM cards for $29USD, but I prefer the Intel cards
as they seem (for me) to do NWAY more reliably then the various versions
of 3com cards.  Of course YMMV.

-Andrew