xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/we.4 (revision 404fbe5fb94ca1e054339640cabb2801ce52dd30)
1.\"	$NetBSD: we.4,v 1.16 2008/04/30 13:10:55 martin Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1997 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
4.\" All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
7.\" by Jason R. Thorpe of the Numerical Aerospace Simulation Facility,
8.\" NASA Ames Research Center.
9.\"
10.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
11.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
12.\" are met:
13.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
14.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
15.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
16.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
17.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
18.\"
19.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS
20.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
21.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
22.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS
23.\" BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
24.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
25.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
26.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
27.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
28.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
29.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
30.\"
31.Dd October 20, 1997
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.Cd "we0 at isa? port 0x280 iomem 0xd0000 irq 9"
39.Cd "we1 at isa? port 0x300 iomem 0xcc000 irq 10"
40.Cd "we* at mca? slot ?"
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Nm
44device driver supports Western Digital/SMC WD80x3, SMC Elite Ultra, and
45SMC EtherEZ Ethernet cards.
46.Sh FLAG VALUES
47For some clone boards the driver is not able to recognize 16bit or 8bit
48interfaces correctly. Since this makes a huge difference (see diagnostic
49section below)
50you can override this by specifying flags value in the config file:
51.Pp
52.Cd "we2 at isa? port 0x300 iomem 0xe0000 irq 15 flags 4"
53.Pp
54The values to add together for flags are:
55.Pp
56.Bl -diag
57.It 2
58force adapter to be treated as 8bit, even if it probes
59as a 16bit interface. Improper use of this flag will make the
60driver fail or send invalid Ethernet packets.
61.It 4
62force adapter to be treated as 16bit, even if it probes
63as a 8bit interface. For example the COMPEX ENT/U boards
64identify as WD8003 compatibles, but are in fact 16bit cards.
65Using this flag on a board that really is a 8bit board will
66result in bogus packets being sent.
67.It 8
68disable the use of double transmit buffers to save space in
69the on-board RAM for more receive buffers.
70.El
71.Pp
72Note that all supported MCA cards are 16bit.
73.Sh MEDIA SELECTION
74The ability to select media from software is dependent on the particular
75model of WD/SMC card.  The following models support only manual configuration:
76WD8003S, WD8003E, and WD8013EBT.
77.Pp
78Other WD/SMC 80x3 interfaces support two types of media on a single card.
79All support the AUI media type.  The other media is either BNC or UTP
80behind a transceiver.  Software cannot differentiate between BNC and UTP
81cards.  On some models, the AUI port is always active.
82.Pp
83The SMC Elite Ultra and SMC EtherEZ interfaces support three media
84a single card: AUI, BNC, and UTP.  If the transceiver is active, the BNC
85media is selected.  Otherwise, the AUI and UTP ports are both active.
86.Pp
87To enable the AUI media, select the
88.Em 10base5
89or
90.Em aui
91media type with
92.Xr ifconfig 8 Ns 's
93.Cm media
94directive.  To select the other media (transceiver), select the
95.Em 10base2
96or
97.Em bnc
98media type.
99.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
100.Bl -diag
101.It "we0: overriding IRQ \*[Lt]n\*[Gt] to \*[Lt]m\*[Gt]"
102The IRQ specified in the kernel configuration file is different from that
103found in the card's configuration registers.  The value in the kernel
104configuration file is being overridden by the one configured into the card.
105.It "we0: can't wildcard IRQ on a \*[Lt]model\*[Gt]"
106The IRQ was wildcarded in the kernel configuration file, and the card is
107a WD8003S, WD8003E, or WD8013EBT, which do not support software IRQ
108configuration.
109.It "we0: failed to clear shared memory at offset \*[Lt]off\*[Gt]"
110The memory test was unable to clear the interface's shared memory
111region.  This often indicates that the card is configured at a conflicting
112.Em iomem
113address.
114.It we0: warning - receiver ring buffer overrun
115The DP8390 Ethernet chip used by this board implements a shared-memory
116ring-buffer to store incoming packets.
117.Pp
118The 16bit boards (8013 series) have 16k of memory as well as
119fast memory access speed.  Typical memory access speed on these
120boards is about 4MB/second.  These boards generally have no
121problems keeping up with full Ethernet speed and the ring-buffer
122seldom overfills.
123.Pp
124However, the 8bit boards (8003) usually have only 8k bytes of shared
125memory.  This is only enough room for about 4 full-size (1500 byte)
126packets.  This can sometimes be a problem, especially on the original
127WD8003E, because these boards' shared-memory access speed is quite
128slow; typically only about 1MB/second.  The overhead of this slow
129memory access, and the fact that there is only room for 4 full-sized
130packets means that the ring-buffer will occasionally overrun.  When
131this happens, the board must be reset to avoid a lockup problem in
132early revision 8390's.  Resetting the board causes all of the data in
133the ring-buffer to be lost, requiring it to be retransmitted/received,
134congesting the board further.  Because of this, maximum throughput on
135these boards is only about 400-600k per second.
136.Pp
137This problem is exasperated by NFS because the 8bit boards lack
138sufficient memory to support the default 8k byte packets that NFS and
139other protocols use as their default.  If these cards must be used
140with NFS, use the NFS
141.Fl r
142and
143.Fl w
144options in
145.Pa /etc/fstab
146to limit NFS's packet size.
1474096 byte packets generally work.
148.El
149.Sh SEE ALSO
150.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
151.Xr intro 4 ,
152.Xr isa 4 ,
153.Xr mca 4 ,
154.Xr ifconfig 8
155