Net.ether503

3Com 503 Ethernet network driver (QNX)

Syntax:

Net.ether503 [options] &

Options:

-a

Use the card's AUI (15-pin) port instead of its onboard transceiver (BNC, TP).

-f tx_forget_time

After a driver-level NACK is received from a remote node, Net.ether503 will assume that because packets were dropped, throttling the transmit output on that connection would be a good idea. So, the output will be reduced to approximately 400K/sec for 10 seconds, after which Net.ether503 stops throttling its output. -f allows you to change the default 10 seconds above.

-h hang_ticks

Specify the number of 50ms ticks to wait until the driver concludes that the chip is hung and resets it. Default: 10 (500ms).

-i irq

Use this interrupt line (IRQ). You can specify a value from 2 to 5; the default is 5.

-l log_net_id

("el") Connect to this logical network (default is 1).

-m mem

Use this memory segment (hexadecimal number, not be preceded by 0x). This option overrides the driver's automatic detection of where the shared RAM is located.

-n tx_num_retries

After failing to transmit to a remote node, retry transmission no more than this number of times (default is 3).

-p io_port

Use this I/O port base, specified as a hexadecimal number without a leading 0x. This option overrides the driver's automatic I/O port detection.

-P

Run promiscuously: buffer every packet, whether or not it's destined for this node. (A node usually discards any packet not addressed to it.)

You may use this option in conjunction with netsniff to monitor other traffic on the network.

-r media_rate

Advertise this bit-transmission rate (default is 10000000). The Network Manager uses this information only when multiple network drivers are running.

-s ram_size

Set the shared RAM segment on the card to this length (default is 8K). The ram_size argument is given in kilobytes (decimal).

-t tx_retry_ticks

Wait this many 50-millisecond intervals between transmit retries (default is 20).

-v

Be verbose: print out hardware info on the console when starting up.

Description:

The Net.ether503 network driver communicates directly with a now-obsolete 3Com 503 Ethernet network card operating in shared memory mode. The driver provides the Network Manager (Net) with reliable data transfer over an Ethernet network.

By default, Net.ether503 automatically determines the I/O port base and the segment of the shared RAM. However, it doesn't automatically detect the hardware interrupt (IRQ) since the 3Com 503 card cannot store this parameter. Net.ether503 will use IRQ 5 unless you specify a different IRQ with the -i option.

The 3Com 503 card supports only IRQs 2, 3, 4, and 5. Make sure no other devices are using the same interrupt as the 3Com 503 card.

Before installing your card, note the following:

Examples:

Use the default IRQ as well as automatic detection of I/O port and shared RAM:

    Net.ether503 &

Do the same as above, but use IRQ 2:

    Net.ether503 -i 2 &

Use the default IRQ, an I/O port base of 0x250, and automatic detection of shared RAM (normally, you need to specify an I/O port only if you've installed multiple 3Com 503 cards -- with multiple cards present, the driver doesn't automatically detect the I/O port):

    Net.ether503 -p 250 &

Use the default IRQ, a RAM segment of 0xCC00, and automatic detection of the I/O port (you don't normally need to specify the RAM segment location since the driver can automatically determine this once it has determined the I/O port base):

    Net.ether503 -m CC00 &

Use IRQ 2, an I/O port base of 0x310, and a RAM segment of 0xD800:

    Net.ether503 -i 2 -p 310 -m D800 &

Support two cards -- one using IRQ 2 and an I/O port base of 0x2A0 on logical network 1, the other using IRQ 5 and an I/O port base of 0x330 on logical network 2. Use automatic RAM segment detection for both:

    Net.ether503 -i 2 -p 2A0 &
    Net.ether503 -p 330 -l 2 &

For this setup, you could configure the RAM segment at 0xC800 for the first card and at 0xCC00 for the second card. To configure the RAM segment, see the card manufacturer's documentation.

Files:

Net.ether503 closes its standard input, standard output and standard error immediately after initialization.

Error messages are displayed via the qnx_display_*() functions, not through standard error.

Signals:

The Net.ether503 driver ignores SIGPWR.

Exit status:

Net.ether503 terminates only upon encountering errors during initialization or upon getting a signal (i.e. being killed).

0

Net.ether503 has shut down successfully and cleanly deregistered from Net.

>0

An error occurred during initialization.

See also:

Net, Net.*, netinfo

Installation & Configuration