Supported Ethernet Cards

To set up an Ethernet LAN, you need an Ethernet card for each PC. Linux supports a wide variety of Ethernet cards for the PC. Table D-1 lists the supported Ethernet cards and their Linux drivers. The table includes wireless Ethernet cards as well as PCMCIA Ethernet cards. The driver name is useful when you load the Ethernet driver module (log in as root and type modprobe drivername to load a driver module).

Table D-1: Ethernet Cards and Their Linux Drivers
Ethernet Card	Driver Name
3Com 3C501* (obsolete and very slow)	3c501
3Com EtherLink II, 3C503, 3C503 (16-bit)	3c503 and 8390
3Com Etherlink Plus 3C505*	3c505
3Com Etherlink-16 3C507*	3c507
3Com Etherlink III, 3C509 / 3C509B (ISA)	3c509
3Com 3C515 Fast EtherLink Ethercard (ISA)	3c515
3Com 3C529 9MCA bus equivalent of 3C509)	3c509
3Com 3C579 (EISA version of 3C509)	3c509
3Com 3C574TX, 3CCFE574BT, 3CXFE574BT, 3CCSH572BT, 3CXSH572BT PCMCIA Card	3c574_cs
3Com 3C562 B/C/D, 3C563 B/C/D, 3C589 B/C/D, Megahertz 3CXE589 D/EC, 3CCE589EC/ET PCMCIA Card	3c589_cs
3Com Etherlink III Vortex (3C590, 3C592, 3C595, 3C597) (PCI)	3c59x
3Com 3C689 TokenLink III (PCMCIA) token ring card	ibmtr_cs
3Com Etherlink XL Boomerang Ethercards (3C900, 3C905), 3C905B Cyclone, 3C905C Tornado (PCI)	3c59x
3Com 3C985	acenic
Accton MPX	ne and 8390
Accton EN1203, EN1207, EtherDuo-PCI	de4x5, tulip
Adaptec DuraLAN (also known as Starfire) ANA-6915, 62022, and 62044	starfire
Aironet 4500 PCI-ISA-i365	aironet4500_card
Aironet 4500 PCMCIA	aironet4500_cs
Aironet 4500 and 4800 series wireless Ethernet PCI	airo
Aironet 4500 and 4800 series wireless Ethernet PCMCIA	airo_cs
Aironet Arlan 655	arlan
Allied Telesis AT1500	lance
Allied Telesis AT1700	at1700
Allied Telesis AT2450	pcnet32
Allied Telesis AT2540FX*	eepro100
Alteon AceNIC Gigabit Ethernet card and other Tigon based cards	acenic
AMD LANCE (7990, 79C960/961/961A, PCnet-ISA)	lance
AMD 79C965 (PCnet-32) and 79C970/970A (PCnet-PCI)	pcnet32
AMD 79C971 (PCnet-FAST), 79C972 (PCnet-FAST+)	pcnet32
AMD 79C974 (PCnet-SCSI)	pcnet32
AMD 8111E	amd8111e
Ansel Communications AC3200* (EISA)	ac3200
Apricot 82596 bus-master Ethernet	lp486e
Asix AX88190-based PCMCIA Ethernet	axnet_cs
Boca BEN (ISA, VLB, PCI)	lance, pcnet32
Broadcom BCM570x (Tigon3) Gigabit Ethernet controller	tg3
Cabletron E21xx*	ne and 8390
Cabletron E2100*	e2100 and 8390
Cabletron E22xx*	lance
Cirrus Logic (previously Crystal Semiconductor) CS89x0	cs89x0
Cogent EM100* ISA/EISA	smc9194
Cogent eMASTER+, EM100-PCI, EM400, EM960, EM964	de4x5, tulip
Compaq Deskpro / Compaq XL (Embedded AMD Chip)	pcnet32
Compaq Fast Ethernet Server Adapter	e100
Compaq Nettelligent/NetFlex (Embedded TI ThunderLAN Chip)	tlan
Compex RL100-ATX	winbond-840
Danpex EN9400	de4x5, tulip
D-Link DE-100, DE-200, DE-220-T, DE-250	ne and 8390
D-Link DE-520	pcnet32
D-Link DE-528	ne, ne2k-pci, and 8390
D-Link DE-530	de4x5, tulip
D-Link DE-600	de600
D-Link DE-620	de620
D-Link DFE-550 and DFE-580 with Sundance ST201 Alta and Kendin KS8723	sundance
D-Link DL2000-based Gigabit Ethernet Adapter	dl2k
Davicom DM9102, DM9102A, DM9102A and DM9801, DM9102A and DM9802 Fast Ethernet	dfme
DEC DEPCA, DE100/1, DE200/1/2, DE210, DE422	depca
DEC EtherWorks 3 (DE203, DE204, DE205)	ewrk3
DEC FDDIcontroller (EISA and PCI)	defxx
DEC DE425 EISA, DE434, DE435, DE500	de4x5, tulip
DEC 21040, 21041, 2114x, Tulip	de4x5, tulip
DFINET-300 and DFINET-400	ne and 8390
Digi RightSwitch SE-X	dgrs
Farallon Etherwave	3c509
Fujitsu FMV-181/182/183/184	fmv18x
Fujitsu FMV-J18x series PCMCIA Ethernet	fmvj18x_cs
HP 27245A	hp and 8390
HP EtherTwist, PC LAN+ (27247, 27252A)	hp-plus and 8390
HP-J2405A	lance
HP-Vectra On Board Ethernet	lance
HP 10/100 VG Any LAN (27248B, J2573, J2577, J2585, J970, J973)	hp100
HP NetServer 10/100TX PCI (D5013A)	eepro100
IBM Thinkpad 300 built-in adapter	znet
IBM Token Ring PCMCIA	ibmtr_cs
ICL EtherTeam 16i/32 (EISA)	eth16i
Intel EtherExpress	eexpress
Intel EtherExpress PRO/10	eepro
Intel EtherExpress PRO 100	eepro100
Intel PRO/100, 8255x-based Ethernet Adapter, 82559 Fast Ethernet LAN on Motherboard, 82562 based Fast Ethernet Connection	e100
Kingston - KNE100TX (Fast EtherRx PCI)	de4x5 or tulip
LinkSys Etherfast 10/100 cards	tulip
LinkSys Pocket Ethernet Adapter Plus	de620
LinkSys WMP11 (Prism II) PCI wireless Ethernet	orinoco_pci
Mylex LNE390A, LNE390B	lne390 and 8390
Mylex LNP101, LNP104*	de4x5 or tulip
Myson MTD-8xx 100/10Mbps PCI	fealnx
Novell Eagle NE1000, NE2000	ne and 8390
National Semiconductor 83820 chip (10/100/1000 Mbps 64-bit PCI Ethernet)	ns83820
National Semiconductor NS8390-based PCMCIA Ethernet	pcnet_cs
National Semiconductor DP8381x series	natsemi
NE2000-PCI (RealTek/Winbond/Compex)	ne, ne2k-pci and 8390
NE1500, NE2100	lance
NE/2* (MCA bus)	ne2
NE3210	ne3210 and 8390
NE5500	pcnet32
Orinoco wireless Ethernet cards (based on Hermes chipset)	orinoco_cs
Packet Engines Yellowfin G-NIC Gigabit Ethernet	yellowfin
Packet Engines GNIC-II PCI Gigabit Ethernet	hamachi
Proteon P1370-EA	ne and 8390
Proteon P1670-EA	de4x5, tulip
Pure Data PDUC8028, PDI8023	wd and 8390
Racal-Interlan ES3210*	es3210
Racal-Interlan NI5010*	ni5010
Racal-Interlan NI5210	ni52
Racal-Interlan NI6510* (not EB)	ni65
Racal-Interlan EtherBlaster (also known as NI6510EB)	lance
Raytheon Raylink Wireless LAN card	ray_cs
RealTek RTL8002/8012 (AT-Lan-Tec) Pocket adaptor	atp
RealTek 8009, 8019	ne and 8390
RealTek 8029	ne, ne2k-pci and 8390
RealTek RTL-8139C+ series 10/100 PCI Ethernet	8139cp and 8139too
RealTek RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet	r8169
RedCreek Communications PCI	rcpci
Sager NP943*	3c501
Schneider & Koch SK G16	sk_g16
SEEQ 8005	seeq8005
SMC SMC91c92-based PCMCIA Ethernet cards (Megahertz, Motorola, Ositech, and Psion Dacom)	smc91c92_cs
SMC Elite Ultra/EtherEZ (ISA)	smc-ultra and 8390
SMC Elite Ultra32 EISA	smc-ultra32 and 8390
SMC PCI EtherPower 10/100	de4x5, tulip
SMC EtherPower II* PCI	epic100
SMC-9000 / SMC 91c92/4, 91c100	smc9194
Sparc HME/BigMac 10/100BaseT (also known as Happy Meal Ethernet)	sunhme
Sun GEM Gigabit Ethernet	sungem
Texas Instruments ThunderLAN	tlan
Toshiba TC35815CF PCI 10/100Mbps Ethernet	tc35815
VIA 86C926 Amazon	ne, ne2k-pci and 8390
VIA 86C100A Rhine I, 6102 Rhine II, and 6105/6105M Rhine III	via-rhine
WaveLAN 2.4GHz Wireless Ethernet PCMCIA card (version 2.0)	wavelan_cs
WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet PCMCIA card	wvlan_cs
Western Digital WD8003 (SMC Elite) and WD8013 (SMC Elite Plus)	wd and 8390
Winbond W89c840 PCI Ethernet chip	winbond-840
Xircom Cardbus Ethernet card	xircom_cb
Xircom Cardbus Ethernet CBE-100	xircom_tulip_cb
Xircom CreditCard Ethernet Adapter (CE2, CE IIps, RE-10, CEM28, CEM33, CE33, CEM56, CE3-100, CE3B, RE-100, REM10BT, and REM56G-100)	xirc2ps_cs
Zenith Z-Note built-in adapter	znet
Znyx ZX342 (DEC 21040 based)	de4x5, tulip

*Cards marked with an asterisk have either buggy drivers or drivers that have not been fully tested.

If you have upgraded the Linux kernel, the new kernel may support even more cards than the ones shown in this list.

If you have not bought an Ethernet card yet, you want to buy a 16-bit card, not an 8-bit card. A 16-bit card transfers data faster and has a larger onboard buffer. The cards come with different types of connectors, as follows:

A DB-15 connector for thick Ethernet. (You need an additional transceiver to connect thickwire to other types of Ethernet, such as thinwire or 10BaseT.)
A thinwire BNC connector
An RJ-45 connector for 10BaseT. (The RJ-45 connector looks like a common RJ-11 phone jack, but the RJ-45 version has eight positions instead of six.)

Nowadays, most Ethernet cards come with a 10BaseT connector. If you have more than one PC with 10BaseT Ethernet cards, you can easily set up a small LAN-all you need is a 10BaseT Ethernet hub. A wire goes from each PC's Ethernet card to the hub, and the hub sets up the proper connections for Ethernet.

You can use Ethernet cards with a DB-15 thick Ethernet connector in a thinwire or 10BaseT network. All you need is a transceiver that attaches to the DB-15 port and provides the right type of connector (BNC for thinwire, and RJ-45 for 10BaseT).