Network card settings...

[Erk]

For the Realtek 8139 based cards, how do I change the connection speed to force it to use 100BaseTX, Half Duplex?

I've searched the internet for any man pages, help pages, etc., etc. which can help with such settings, and all I can find are things to do with Donald Becker and a 'file' called 'mii-diag.c', but this is an uncompiled C file, with no other files for configuration or setup. It's supposed to allow setting of various options on 8139-based cards, but I haven't a clue how to compile, install, or use it.

Any help, most gratefully appreciated.

Erk.
:confused:

[DMR]

Unfortunately, as far as I know (hopefully I'm wrong; I'm no guru) mii-diag (http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html#mii-opts) is the only way to do what you're asking. The compilation commands that you can use are listed at the end of the mii-diag.c file:compile-command: gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O mii-diag.c -DLIBMII libmii.c -o mii-diag

simple-compile-command: gcc mii-diag.c -o mii-diagCompiling isn't that hard, but you need to have gcc and probably the kernel sources installed on your box, which they are not by default.
Welcome to the wild world of linux, where we all have to fend for ourselves because manufacturers don't want to open-source the code for their drivers.
:mad:

BTW- why do you need to force the card; does it not auto-negotiate properly?

[ 06 October 2001: Message edited by: DMR ]

[Erk]

Originally posted by DMR:
<STRONG>BTW- why do you need to force the card; does it not auto-negotiate properly?

[ 06 October 2001: Message edited by: DMR ]</STRONG>

Apparently not. It's supposed to be a 100Mbps network running through a 3Com hub, but it's performing worse than a 10Mbps, and with a really bad collision rate. I need to have half-duplex only because of the hub, I think, then it should perform better (at least that was the case when I was running an old 10Mbps hub)

Erk
:(

[Erk]

:D
I compiled my first Linux program...!! thank you DMR for your pointer.

I had trouble running the compiled program initially, but that was because bash couldn't find it. I had to move the program into the sbin directory, then it worked (you can tell I'm used to Windows/MS-DOS...)

Anyway, I ran the program with the -F to set 100BaseTx-HD, and it has significantly improved performance.

However, I transferred a 411MByte folder from one computer to the other, and it took 3 minutes to do it. I calculated how many bits that was (3447717888), then worked out how long that theoretically should take at 100Mbps. I came up with 32.88 seconds. Now there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy there (and I'm not running any other network traffic on the LAN, so that's not the reason for the difference).

Can someone tell me what are real world transfer figures for 100Mbps LANs? :confused:

Erk
:)

[Nekopa]

Hi!
I have no idea where you can find real world figures or stuff (google.com maybe?) And I have no idea about networks or transfer stuff. But if IIRC when any information is sent over a protocol, it is checked to make sure that it has been recieved correctly. So maybe part of the reason for it being slow is just the system making sure that everything is copacetic

My $0.02 worth :)

Lee

P.S. My first (and only) compiled program on linux is a really ****ty touch-typing tutor that runs in a text window, so congrats on your success :D

L