[3c509] Feedback. Suggestion. Request. 3Com 509B.

[Wm. G. McGrath]

Hi, 

The quote below comes from the mtools mailing list (mtools@tux.org)
so I thought I'd pass it along, and include the original post below
that.

I'm sure adding features to the 3Com 509B utility (scyld) does not
rank very high on the priority list. It's only a 10Mb card and is no
longer manufactured. Still there are zillions of them still in use
and 10Mb is all you need to connect to DSL or cable. So they will
probably be around for quite a while. So I guess that means people
will be using Donald's utiltity for quite a while too. B->>

I guess the point is that the 3Com utility (dos) has some features
that it would be useful to access under linux - without having to
resort to dos boot disks. It's just a lot simpler to have the things
you need available in one place. Besides setting the IRQ and
address, I needed to be able to turn PnP off and Full Duplex on.
While I was there I also reset the media type and the modem speed -
not essential but someone might need it. 

Donald's utility is already written and I can personally attest to
it's usefulness. It's just a question of increasing it's
functionality. This might be as simple as being able to change the
contents of a register or two. So I don't think this is a major
undertaking.

Anyways, there you have it. My 3Com problem is solved, but others I
am sure, will need to solve the same problems. Adding features to
the utility would make linux a little more self sufficient and
easier to use. 

	I hope this feedback is useful.

	Thanks for listening,

	bill

On Mon, 5 Aug 2002 10:17:34 -0400 (EDT)
David C Niemi <niemi@tuxers.net> wrote:

|On 5 Aug 2002, Fredrik Stax{ng wrote:
|> Given documentation for the 3com card it should not be hard to
|> enhance Donald Becker's utility to do what you want. 

==================================================

On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 03:51:21 -0700
Wm. G. McGrath <wgm@telus.net> wrote:

|
|Hi,
|
|This isn't a bug report, rather it's more like a suggestion for a
|needed feature in mtools.
|
|I am trying to put together a firewall with an old 486 and a couple
|of 3Com 509B nics. I need to reset the IRQs, addresses, turn on
|full duplex, and disable Plug and Play. Donald Becker has a utility
|that can handle the IRQs and addresses but not the full duplex or
|PnP. Fortunately, 3Com has a utility that can handle these things.
|But, it's a dos utility. Now I don't own a dos box. So I'm in deep
|do do. In this situation, Linux is not quite self-sufficient.
|
|Mtools lacks an option to create a dos system diskette. (In dos
|this is done with the FORMAT A:/S command.) This is necessary
|because I have to copy the 3Com utility to a bootable dos diskette
|and reboot with it in order to run the program and reset the nics.
|Copying the file to an ordinary dos diskette, created with mformat,
|mkdosfs, or mkfs, only produces an unbootable diskette. It's
|unfortunate that 3Com doesn't offer better support, such as a linux
|utility, but that's the world we live in. I find myself caught
|between the shortcomings of the manufacturer's support and the
|shortcomings of the available options in mformat.
|
|I'm sure that I'll find a way to get a system disk in the next
|week or so, so I'm not sending this email for myself. Rather, I
|thought I'd mention this shortcoming with mtools to help out the
|next person who needs to make a system diskette for one reason or
|another. Please consider adding this option to mtools.
|
|It's not a feature that's going to be used a great deal, but it
|would be pretty convenient to have included in the next release. It
|would make Linux a little more complete. That is, if you guys
|agree.
|
-- 
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