Subject: Re: Hardware questions
To: der Mouse <port-sparc@netbsd.org>
From: Don Yuniskis <auryn@gci-net.com>
List: port-sparc
Date: 11/25/2001 23:32:16
>> There are single slot sbus NICs out there aplenty; I do not know if
>> there are ones with 10BaseT ports, but I own one with AUI and
>> 10Base2.
>
>I have seen a number of single-slot SBus cards that provide Ethernet.
>
>Some of them also provide SCSI; I have seen two sorts of these.  One


I am still wondering why sun would put a scsi host adapter on a card
given the presence of the scsi controller within the machine.
Only reasons I can come up with are:
- want more than 7 id's
- want a more current (higher thruput, etc.) implementation
  than the (rather dated) chip used on the motherboard...

>sort has SCSI and a 10baseT jack; the other sort has SCSI and a funny
>idiosyncratic connector, and external cables which break it out to

Is this like the "MII" (?) connector on the Classic/LX?

>either 10baseT or AUI.  This sort also has on-card jumpers to select
>whether you're using 10baseT or AUI - I've never experimented to see
>what happens if you set the jumpers wrong for the external cable you're
>using.
>
>I've also got some (again, single-slot) cards which have no SCSI, but
>do have both AUI and 10base2 connectors on the back.


So 10base2/AUI and 10baseT/AUI appear to exist...

>> Point being: The cards you are looking for (with 10Base2 ethernet) DO
>> exist.
>
>Indeed they do.  I own two of them. :-)
>
>> There also exist, if you need one, AUI --> 10Base2 transceivers,
>> although I suspect these are much harder to find nowadays.
>
>I also own four of these, and have two more on indefinite long-term
>loan which will probably never be recalled.  I never use 10base2 any
>more except for machines that have nothing else, like a DECstation I
>was playing with not so very long ago.  If you're not too far away, I
>could probably set up a little 10base2 setup to test these and post you
>a couple; they're not doing anyone any good sitting on the shelf.


Thanks for the offer -- but I'll probably buy another 5 or 6
just to have some spares.  A design that I just completed
uses a 10base2 transceiver so at the very least, having a
few spares will save me the trouble of debugging my
transceiver design until it "really matters"...

The bigger (SPARC related) issue is finding a source of
appropriate SBUS NIC's.

Thanks!
--don