Re: [PATCH 2.6.19.2] r8169: support RTL8169SC/8110SC

From: èæå
Date: Tue Feb 06 2007 - 21:57:00 EST




Francois Romieu æå:

edward_hsu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx :
[...]


ANS_2:
So, do you think that it is a good idea to keep other vendos's PID and
DID in the part?



Yes.



ANS_3:

OK! I will do it.

[...]


ANS_2:

Sure! You are right. RTL8110SC, RTL8111B and RTL8101E have modest
differences, now. However, RTL8101E is a PCI-E fast ethernet controller.
I don't think is a good idea to merge its Linux driver into r8168.c or
r8169.c. RTL8110SC is the final version of Realtek PCI gigabit ethernet
controller. Moreover, due to the increasing popularity of PCI-E, Realtek
is going to design several generations of PCI-E ethernet controllers to
satisfy customer requests. I have discussed this issue with my hardware
colleagues. They believe that both MAC register layout and tx/rx
descriptor layout will be changed a lot in new PCI-E ICs. Actually, they
already did. Therefore, the hardwares of RTL8111B(PCI-E gigabit
ethernet) and RTL8101E(PCI-E fast ethernet) will have frequent and
drastic changes. So, I think that it's a good moment to separate their
Linux drivers, and r8169.c can become stable.



Well, code and facts will tell. :o)

Since you asked for questions:

- will the ~7k limit for the jumbo frames be fixed ? One can hardly call
it a feature.


ANS_3:

Realtek does implement 7k limit for jumbo frames. I think there is no standard to require how large a jumbo frame should be implemented.


- out of curiosity, did you try the current in-kernel r8169 driver with
a 8111B or a 8101E ?


ANS_3:
Yes I did! I tried Linux kernel 2.6.19. It seems that r8169.c supports RTL8111B and RTL8101E.

- is there any plan to open the programming manuals of the PCI-E chipsets ?


ANS_3:
Realtek does not have the plan to open the programming manuals of the PCI-E chipsets.
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