Databook on Lite-On PNIC-II

[Bill Paul]

> On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, Christopher Smith wrote:                    
     
>> Hi everyone. I'm not a NIC driver programmer, but I thought I'd do my
>> bit to help out, so I started chasing down a source for the specs on
>> the PNIC-II. 
>>                                                   
>> I knew the chip was supposed to be compatible with Macronix's 
>> products. So, I e-mailed Macronix and asked them for info on which 
>> of their chips was the same as Lite-On chip. They have told me that    
>> the 98715 is an exact match. 

Not 100% exact, but pretty close.

> While Macronix and Lite-On have a close relationship, the PNIC-II is *not*
> the same as the 98715. Beyond both being loosely Tulip clones, they are not
> even close. A quick look at the driver sections will confirm this.

I'm sorry, but this is wrong. The LC82C115 chip is very, *very* similar
to the 98715A. The differences are that it supports magic packet/Wake on
LAN and has a 128-bit multicast hash table instead of a 512-bit table
like most tulip clones. It has the same 21143-alike NWAY support as
the 98715A, the same register layout (except for the new ones needed
for the magic packet/WOL stuff) and the same rx filter programming scheme
(except for the smaller hash table). The PNIC II is basically the 98715A
with a few extra features (and one misfeature). In fact, when I open
the datasheet that I have in Adobe Acrobat Reader and look at the
document properties, the document name is listed as "MX98715." This
document *is* the 98715A datasheet, with updates. It even has the MXIC
logo on it. The if_dc driver in FreeBSD treats the PNIC II almost exactly
the same as the 98715A, except for the multicast hash filter programming.

> The PNIC-II datasheet is (or was at one time), proprietary. I have no
> rights to redistribute it.

I got my copy from LinkSys when the asked me to do support for their
new card, and they never said anything about limiting redistribution.
I never signed any NDAs, and the document I have doesn't say
"confidential" or "proprietary" on it anywhere. That said:

http://www.freebsd.org/~wpaul/Macronix/PNIC_II.PDF
http://www.freebsd.org/~wpaul/PNIC/pnic.ps.gz

The latter is the datasheet I have for the original PNIC. It's not
terribly spectacular. These datasheets have been sitting at these
URLs for a while. The Macronix directory also has datasheets for
the 98713 series chips, which Macronix seems to have removed from
their site for some reason.

Have a party.

-Bill

-- 
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-Bill Paul            (212) 854-6020 | System Manager, Master of Unix-Fu
Work:         wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Department of Electrical Engineering
Home:  wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City
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