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1This software may be used and distributed according to the terms of
2the GNU Public License, incorporated herein by reference.
3
4This is a tulip and clone driver for Etherboot.  See the revision
5history in the tulip.c file for information on changes.  This version
6of the driver incorporates changes from Bob Edwards and Paul Mackerras
7who cantributed changes to support the TRENDnet TE100-PCIA NIC which
8uses a genuine Intel 21143-PD chipset.  There are also various code
9cleanups to make time-based activities more reliable.
10
11Of course you have to have all the usual Etherboot environment
12(bootp/dhcp/NFS) set up, and you need a Linux kernel with v0.91g
13(7.16.99) or later of the tulip.c driver compiled in to support some
14MX98715 based cards.  That file is available at:
15
16  http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/test/tulip.c
17
18NOTES
19
20I've tested this driver with a SOHOware Fast 10/100 Model SDA110A,
21a Linksys LNE100TX v2.0, and a Netgear FA310TX card, and it worked at
22both 10 and 100 mbits. Other cards based on the tulip family may work as
23well.
24
25These cards are about 20$US, are supported by Linux and now Etherboot,
26and being PCI, they auto-configure IRQ and IOADDR and auto-negotiate
2710/100 half/full duplex. It seems like a pretty good value compared to
28some of the pricier cards, and can lower the cost of building/adapting
29thin client workstations substantially while giving a considerable
30performance increase.
31
32On some PCI tulip clone chipsets (MX987x5, LC82C115, LC82C168) this driver
33lets the card choose the fastest speed it can negotiate with the peer
34device.  On other cards, it chooses 10mbit half-duplex.
35
36I burned an AM27C256 (32KByte) EPROM with mx987x5.lzrom and it worked.
37According to the data sheet the MX98715A supports up to 64K (27C512)
38EPROMs,
39
40I've liberally commented the code and header files in the hope that it
41will help the next person who hacks the code or needs to support some
42tulip clone card, or wishes to add functionality.
43
44Anyway, please test this if you can on your tulip based card, and let
45me (mdc@etherboot.org) and the Etherboot-Discuss list
46(etherboot-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net) know how things go.  I also
47would appreciate code review by people who program.  I'm a strong
48believer in "another set of eyes".
49
50Regards,
51
52Marty Connor
53mdc@etherboot.org
54http://www.etherboot.org/
55