tx(4) SMC 83c17x Fast Ethernet device driver

SYNOPSIS

To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:
device miibus device tx

Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in loader.conf5:


if_tx_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION

The driver provides support for the Ethernet adapters based on the SMC 83c17x (EPIC) chips. These are mostly SMC 9432 series cards.

The driver supports the following media types (depending on card's capabilities):

autoselect
Enable autonegotiation (default).
100baseFX
Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) fiber optic operation.
100baseTX
Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) twisted pair operation.
10baseT/UTP
Set 10Mbps on 10baseT port.
10base2/BNC
Set 10Mbps on 10base2 port.

The driver supports the following media options:

full-duplex
Set full-duplex operation.

The driver supports oversized Ethernet packets (up to 1600 bytes). Refer to the ifconfig(8) man page on setting the interface's MTU.

The old ``ifconfig tx0 linkN '' method of configuration is not supported.

VLAN (IEEE 802.1Q) support

The driver supports the VLAN operation (using vlan(4) interfaces) without decreasing the MTU on the vlan(4) interfaces.

DIAGNOSTICS

"tx%d: device timeout %d packets"
The device stops responding. Device and driver reset follows this error.
"tx%d: PCI fatal error occurred (%s)"
One of following errors occurred: PCI Target Abort, PCI Master Abort, Data Parity Error or Address Parity Error. Device and driver reset follows this error.
"tx%d: cannot allocate mbuf header/cluster"
Cannot allocate memory for received packet. Packet thrown away.
"tx%d: can't stop %s DMA"
While resetting, the driver failed to stop the device correctly.

BUGS

The auto-negotiation does not work very well.