xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/we.4 (revision 01869ca4d24a86379a68731bf9706a9f0820fe4e)
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31.Dd March 23, 2010
32.Dt WE 4
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm we
36.Nd "Western Digital/SMC WD80x3, SMC Elite Ultra, and SMC EtherEZ Ethernet cards device driver"
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.Ss ISA boards
39.Cd "we0 at isa? port 0x280 iomem 0xd0000 irq 9"
40.Cd "we1 at isa? port 0x300 iomem 0xcc000 irq 10"
41.Ss MCA boards
42.Cd "we* at mca? slot ?"
43.Ss atari
44.Cd "we0 at vme0 irq 4 # SMC Elite Ultra with SMC_TT VME-ISA bridge"
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46The
47.Nm
48device driver supports Western Digital/SMC WD80x3, SMC Elite Ultra, and
49SMC EtherEZ Ethernet cards.
50.Sh FLAG VALUES
51For some clone boards the driver is not able to recognize 16bit or 8bit
52interfaces correctly.
53Since this makes a huge difference (see diagnostic section below)
54you can override this by specifying flags value in the config file:
55.Pp
56.Cd "we2 at isa? port 0x300 iomem 0xe0000 irq 15 flags 4"
57.Pp
58The values to add together for flags are:
59.Pp
60.Bl -diag
61.It 2
62force adapter to be treated as 8bit, even if it probes
63as a 16bit interface.
64Improper use of this flag will make the driver fail or send invalid
65Ethernet packets.
66.It 4
67force adapter to be treated as 16bit, even if it probes
68as a 8bit interface.
69For example the COMPEX ENT/U boards identify as WD8003 compatibles,
70but are in fact 16bit cards.
71Using this flag on a board that really is a 8bit board will result
72in bogus packets being sent.
73.It 8
74disable the use of double transmit buffers to save space in
75the on-board RAM for more receive buffers.
76.El
77.Pp
78Note that all supported MCA cards are 16bit, and the SMC_TT VME-ISA bridge
79interface for atari supports only SMC Elite Ultra.
80.Sh MEDIA SELECTION
81The ability to select media from software is dependent on the particular
82model of WD/SMC card.
83The following models support only manual configuration:
84WD8003S, WD8003E, and WD8013EBT.
85.Pp
86Other WD/SMC 80x3 interfaces support two types of media on a single card.
87All support the AUI media type.
88The other media is either BNC or UTP behind a transceiver.
89Software cannot differentiate between BNC and UTP cards.
90On some models, the AUI port is always active.
91.Pp
92The SMC Elite Ultra and SMC EtherEZ interfaces support three media
93a single card: AUI, BNC, and UTP.
94If the transceiver is active, the BNC media is selected.
95Otherwise, the AUI and UTP ports are both active.
96.Pp
97To enable the AUI media, select the
98.Em 10base5
99or
100.Em aui
101media type with
102.Xr ifconfig 8 Ns 's
103.Cm media
104directive.
105To select the other media (transceiver), select the
106.Em 10base2
107or
108.Em bnc
109media type.
110.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
111.Bl -diag
112.It "we0: overriding IRQ <n> to <m>"
113The IRQ specified in the kernel configuration file is different from that
114found in the card's configuration registers.
115The value in the kernel configuration file is being overridden by
116the one configured into the card.
117.It "we0: can't wildcard IRQ on a <model>"
118The IRQ was wildcarded in the kernel configuration file, and the card is
119a WD8003S, WD8003E, or WD8013EBT, which do not support software IRQ
120configuration.
121.It "we0: failed to clear shared memory at offset <off>"
122The memory test was unable to clear the interface's shared memory
123region.
124This often indicates that the card is configured at a conflicting
125.Em iomem
126address.
127.It we0: warning - receiver ring buffer overrun
128The DP8390 Ethernet chip used by this board implements a shared-memory
129ring-buffer to store incoming packets.
130.Pp
131The 16bit boards (8013 series) have 16k of memory as well as
132fast memory access speed.
133Typical memory access speed on these boards is about 4MB/second.
134These boards generally have no problems keeping up with full Ethernet
135speed and the ring-buffer seldom overfills.
136.Pp
137However, the 8bit boards (8003) usually have only 8k bytes of shared
138memory.
139This is only enough room for about 4 full-size (1500 byte) packets.
140This can sometimes be a problem, especially on the original WD8003E,
141because these boards' shared-memory access speed is quite slow;
142typically only about 1MB/second.
143The overhead of this slow memory access, and the fact that there
144is only room for 4 full-sized packets means that the ring-buffer
145will occasionally overrun.
146When this happens, the board must be reset to avoid a lockup problem
147in early revision 8390's.
148Resetting the board causes all of the data in the ring-buffer to
149be lost, requiring it to be retransmitted/received, congesting the
150board further.
151Because of this, maximum throughput on these boards is only about
152400-600k per second.
153.Pp
154This problem is exasperated by NFS because the 8bit boards lack
155sufficient memory to support the default 8k byte packets that NFS and
156other protocols use as their default.
157If these cards must be used with NFS, use the NFS
158.Fl r
159and
160.Fl w
161options in
162.Pa /etc/fstab
163to limit NFS's packet size.
1644096 byte packets generally work.
165.El
166.Sh SEE ALSO
167.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
168.Xr intro 4 ,
169.Xr isa 4 ,
170.Xr mca 4 ,
171.Xr ifconfig 8
172