Ethernet adapters vary greatly in performance. In general the
newer the design the better. Some very old cards like the 3Com
3c501 are only useful because they can be found in junk heaps
for $5 a time. Be careful with clones, not all are good clones
and bad clones often cause erratic lockups under Linux. Read the
Ethernet HOWTO for detailed descriptions of various cards.
For ethernet cards with the DECchip DC21x4x family the
"Tulip" driver is available. More information on this driver
can be found at
Donald Becker's site.
3Com 3c501 - "avoid like the plague" (3c501 driver)
3Com Etherlink III Vortex Ethercards (3c590, 3c592,
3c595, 3c597) (PCI),
3Com Etherlink XL Boomerang (3c900, 3c905)
(PCI) and Cyclone
(3c905B, 3c980) Ethercards (3c59x
driver) and 3Com Fast EtherLink Ethercard (3c515)
(ISA) (3c515 driver)
Newer versions of this drivers are available at
Donald Becker's site
Avoid the 3c900 card when possible as the driver is
not functioning well for this card.
3Com 3ccfe575 Cyclone Cardbus (3c59x driver)
3Com 3c575 series Cardbus (3c59x driver) (ALL PCMCIA ??)
AMD LANCE (79C960) / PCnet-ISA/PCI (AT1500, HP J2405A,
NE1500/NE2100)
For more information on Linux and use of the parallel
port, go to the
Linux Parallel Port Home Page
( alternate location). Check Appendix C for a
complete list of supported
parallel port devices (excluding printers).