> then transferring 100MB of /dev/zero takes 114 seconds sparc->i386 and
> 112 i386->sparc, according to similar crude timing methods.  I've
> played with what is in use on the various ends but have been unable to
> push the time to transfer 100MB of /dev/zero below about 100 seconds,
> and that good a result was with only one process on the SPARC, reading
> from /dev/zero and writing to the network.  (The 114-second run had two
> processes on the SPARC; the 112 had only one, reading from the net and
> writing to /dev/null.  I don't know why writing was faster than
> reading.)
>   

huh i got a hme today and put it into my SS20 router. But I'm not really 
happy with the result.
my SS20 config:

...
NetBSD 2.1 (SPARKY.MP) #3: Thu Aug 10 19:29:44 CEST 2006
        root@sparky:/usr/src/sys/arch/sparc/compile/SPARKY.MP
total memory = 511 MB
avail memory = 496 MB
...
cpu0 at mainbus0: mid 8: RT620/625 @ 180 MHz, on-chip FPU
cpu0: 512K byte write-back, 32 bytes/line, sw flush: cache enabled
cpu1 at mainbus0: mid 10: RT620/625 @ 180 MHz, on-chip FPU
cpu1: 512K byte write-back, 32 bytes/line, sw flush: cache enabled
...
le0 at ledma0 slot 15 offset 0xc00000 level 6: address 08:00:20:86:50:74
le0: 8 receive buffers, 2 transmit buffers
...
hme0 at sbus0 slot 3 offset 0x8c00000 level 4 (ipl 7): Sun Happy Meal 
Ethernet (SUNW,hme)
hme0: Ethernet address 08:00:20:86:50:74
nsphy0 at hme0 phy 1: DP83840 10/100 media interface, rev. 1
nsphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
...
sd0 at scsibus0 target 3 lun 0: <COMPAQ, BD018122C9, B016> disk fixed
sd0: 17365 MB, 7001 cyl, 20 head, 254 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 35565080 sectors
sd0: sync (100.00ns offset 15), 8-bit (10.000MB/s) transfers, tagged 
queueing

on my pc side:
0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT6120/VT6121/VT6122 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev 11)

my switch:
Dlink DGS-1008D (Gigabit Ethernet)

so i start my apache on the 'sparky' and wget from my  pc, first with 
le0, second with the hme0

96.419.840   876.52K/s    ETA 00:00
96.419.840     2.13M/s    ETA 00:00

only 2Megs per seconds.  I thourghed I would get at least a boost to 
5Megs or so.  What can I do to speed up the system to (at least)
3Megs, because I want to upgrade to a faster internet connection, 
without changing my lovely 'sparky'.

Best Regards
Stephan