Re: [SLUG] Multiple NICS under Linux

[Grant Parnell <gripz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Minh Van Le wrote:

> Has anybody configured 3 or 4 nics to work under Linux ?

Should be relatively easy, I've never had the need to do more than 3 
though. It's possibly a matter of plugging in one at a time and also a bit 
of slot swapping to find out which combination works with your 
motherboard. Yes, sadly the position of the cards plays a part in the 
success.

 > 
> I'm trying to make a decision between possibly having 3 or 4 10mbit
> RealTek PCI nics (at $20 each), or purchasing the D-Link 4-Port PCIBUS
> 10/100 NIC DFE-570TX ($499.70AUD at everythinglinux.com.au).

I'm sure you can get cheap 4 port hubs for less than $100 heck I might
even trade you one myself, I need some extra ports so might go for
something bigger. I got my netgear 4 port 10M hub for $99 (that is before
we stocked them). It's a couple of years old so maybe $50 - make an offer
You'll still need to get a couple of network cards though.

> Also afaik there're problems with the NetGear FA311s with 2.4.x ? and
> people have suggested use of FA310s instead. Is this true ?

The FA310 uses the tulip chipset (no probs from RH6.2 up), the FA311 uses 
the natsemi chipset which wasn't supported in RH till 7.1 but can easily 
be dealt with by going to www.scyld.com (Donald Becker's site) for the 
latest network driver kits.

> What's the difference between OEM and Retail pricing ? It seems to me
> that OEM labeled hardware are cheaper than Retail labeled hardware. The
> retail FA310 are $50.80, and OEM are $35.00 as advertised from
> everythinglinux.com.au.

Literally OEM is "Original Equipment Manufacturer" ie it's meant to be for 
people building complete systems for onward sale. It is assumed you know 
what you're doing and don't need the manuals and silly "bundle" deals. EG 
with a CD writer you might get a number of CD writing utilities that 
"normally cost 100's of dollars but all for free" bundled in. The catch is 
it's usually all Windows software so apart from the manuals there's not 
much difference.

We do get Windows people buying from EverythingLinux who can appreciate 
the retail box. Oh, in case you haven't worked it out I work in the same 
office.

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