bri...@aracnet.com put forth on 4/14/2010 10:35 PM: > running 2.6.32-trunk on an Atom/Intel board and I'm not seeing any > problems.
Which 2.6.32? Apparently this bug was fixed in 2.6.32-3. I'm not sure if this firmware bug affected all RTL chips or even all RTL 8168/9 chips. Count yourself lucky. Here's the bug report: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=561309 > RTL8111/8168B is what's listed via lspci > > I'm getting 1GB performance That's impossible. GigE wire speed is 1Gb/s. Please learn the difference between [B]yte and [b]it quantities. And, I guarantee you are not getting 1Gb/s transfers between hosts with RTL chips. There's a big difference between link speed and data transmission speed/throughput. I've seen guys with serious hardware horsepower not be able to get even close to 500Mb/s with RTL chips. On the same machines, using an Intel GigE interface, they were getting over 900Mb/s. Intel ethernet chips cost about 5 times what RTL chips do. Performance is one of the reasons. > I do see the firmware messages: > > r8169 requesting rtl8169-1.fw > > so I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be a problem. You're probably running a kernel that has the patch, or a chip/driver combo that doesn't barf when the firmware can't be loaded because neither need that firmware. > There is a disturbing trend on the part of HW manufacturers to have > these customize firmware blobs, and that's not good. That's not the problem. Firmware blobs are very necessary. They allow manufacturers to fix flaws in hardware devices or introduce enhancements after they've already shipped the products. Soft firmware blobs are a good thing. There's nothing disturbing about it, but for your lack of understanding of the subject. No offense intended, just stating facts. The problem is that Realtek apparently didn't release this particular firmware code under an appropriate free software license such as the GPL. This bug isn't technical in nature. The fix is, but the cause isn't. The cause is the fact that Realtek didn't make the firmware source "free". -- Stan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4bc69d69.9000...@hardwarefreak.com
