Re: bootprom for intel etherexpress PCI100+

[Peter Debus <pdebus@turing.une.edu.au>]

I have just wrestled with a few 10/100 PCI cards.

SMC9432TX: There was an unresolved problem with the packet driver
and the netboot code. Packet driver laoded OK and bootp request
sent out OK, the server response was never received by netboot. Appeared
there was a breakdown between packet driver and netboot in receive mode.

DEC500-BA/AA (DEC2114*): The packet driver is 62KB, which is too big.
"make bootrom" won't compile boot image as the resulting image with that
packet driver is over 64kB.

3c905XL: It is working fine and is the card we will be using for
our lab PCs which are booting Linux/Win95/DOS. I used 27C256 EEPROMs and the
packet driver included with the card. Latest drivers are also available from
3COM's web site (www.3com.com). The 28-pin ROM is plugged into the 32-pin
socket with pins 29-32 unused on the socket. The following is from a 
previous posting by Charl J. Barnard, although I did not find it necessary
to solder a wire from pin 28 to 32 on the socket.

Orientation of 28-pin ROM in 32 pin socket:

|oo**************|
|  :             |
>  )   27C256    |
|  :             |
|oo**************|

I havn't had anything to do with IEE PCI 100+, sorry.


Peter Debus
School of Mathematical Computer Sciences
University of New England
Armidale NSW 
Australia

Ph: 61 267 73 2412 Fax: 61 267 73 3312

> 
> Hello!
> 
> Does anybody know what prom type Intel etherexpress 100+ uses. If I have
> get everything right, it supports some kind of flash prom. Can I burn it
> with some simple DOS (or linux) program? It would be nice to avoid
> primitive EPROM burners.
> 
> I'm thinking of buy a couple (40) of diskless Linux-PCs, and if IEE PCI
> 100+ doesn't have the feature mentioned, then I don't know what network
> adapter to buy. Can anybody give me a hint: 3C905XL, DEC2114*, IEE PCI
> 100+ or something else. Easy maintaining and stability is much more
> important than speed.
> 
> We are going to use them in 100Mbit/Half duplex mode.
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> /Erik
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Erik Starbäck		                   E-mail: erik@math.uu.se
> Department of Mathematics
> University of Uppsala
> Sweden
> 


> 
> Hello!
> 
> Does anybody know what prom type Intel etherexpress 100+ uses. If I have
> get everything right, it supports some kind of flash prom. Can I burn it
> with some simple DOS (or linux) program? It would be nice to avoid
> primitive EPROM burners.
> 
> I'm thinking of buy a couple (40) of diskless Linux-PCs, and if IEE PCI
> 100+ doesn't have the feature mentioned, then I don't know what network
> adapter to buy. Can anybody give me a hint: 3C905XL, DEC2114*, IEE PCI
> 100+ or something else. Easy maintaining and stability is much more
> important than speed.
> 
> We are going to use them in 100Mbit/Half duplex mode.
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> /Erik
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Erik Starbäck		                   E-mail: erik@math.uu.se
> Department of Mathematics
> University of Uppsala
> Sweden
>