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).
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).