NEXTSTEP for Intel Processors

Title: 3COM Etherlink III Ethernet Adapter
Entry Number: 1482
Last Updated: <<Date November 15, 1995>>

Product Vendor: 
3Com Corporation
5400 Bayfront Plaza
PO Box 58145
Santa Clara, California
95052-8145 USA

US & Canada toll-free pre-sales, product information: +1 (800) NET-3COM
Fax back system: +1 (408) 727-7021	
US 24 hour BBS (24/96 8/1/N): +1 (408) 980-8204
France 24 hour BBS (24/96/14.4 8/1/N): +(33) (1) 69 86 69 54
UK 24 hour BBS (12-38.4k 8/1/N): +(44) (0) 628 897 086
WWW: http://www.3com.com/

Keywords: 3COM, Etherlink III, 3C509, Ethernet, ISA, Networking

Usage Commentary:
The 3COM Etherlink III 3C509 provides a 16 bit ethernet interface to thin or thick networks and is available in the following versions:
		3C509			ISA		BNC, AUI
		3C509TP			ISA		RJ-45, AUI
		3C509COMBO	ISA		BNC, AUI, RJ-45
		3C509TPO		ISA		RJ-45 Only

Setup and Installation:
·	The 3COM Etherlink III has small buffers which can cause the board to drop incoming NFS packets resulting in slow NFS performance. To improve performance with Ethernet boards that have small buffers, modify the NFS mount options for often used servers, such as the server containing home directories, to match the characteristics of these boards. Launch NFSManager and do the following. Use the Expert Options button in the Imported Directories window to set the Read and Write buffer sizes to 1024 bytes.

	This adapter is not recommended for use in NFS intensive environments.

·	Be sure to run the appropriate hardware configuration utility to verify settings on the card match those in Configure.  Run 3COM's 3C509.EXE DOS utility to edit the hardware settings.

·	Although this card can present itself as an EISA card to an EISA bus system, it should be configured as an ISA card.

Known Problems:
·	10BASE-T (twisted pair) is not supported in NEXTSTEP 3.2.  It is supported in NEXTSTEP 3.3

·	Multiple network cards within a single system is not supported.

·	If the 3COM Etherlink III adapter is not present in a configured system or the settings for the Port Address and/or IRQ do not match what is in Configure.app, the system will hang during boot up while performing a probe.  To work around this problem, simply boot using config=Default and use Configure.app to remove/modify this driver.

For NEXTSTEP Release 3.3, please refer to NeXTanswers document 1757_3COM_EtherLink_III_Driver_Overview.rtf

See Also:
1492_NFS_Performance_Tuning, NEXTSTEP In Focus Winter 1994