<div dir="ltr">On Sat, Jul 19, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Robert Heller <<a href="mailto:heller@deepsoft.com" target="_blank">heller@deepsoft.com</a>> wrote: <div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">At Sat, 19 Jul 2014 12:34:46 -0400 Sabniveesu Shashank <<a href="mailto:shashank@linux.com">shashank@linux.com</a>> wrote: > > > On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 10:41 AM, Robert Heller <<a href="mailto:heller@deepsoft.com">heller@deepsoft.com</a>> wrote: > > > At Fri, 18 Jul 2014 08:27:39 -0400 "Ubuntu user technical support, not > > for general discussions" <<a href="mailto:ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com</a>> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > I found from nm-tool output that my system is using Driver: r8169. > > > > > > lspci showed this text: "*RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet > > > controller*" > > > > > > I searched over the Internet "r8169" and found that the above text > > > occurring in <a href="http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/R8169.html" target="_blank">http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/R8169.html</a>. but saying > > > "device: 8136" > > > > > > Q) How can an "8169" work well for "8136"? If it does and if I'm to > > compile > > > for any other chipset, how would I know if the exact device/driver no. > > > isn't going to appear? > > > > > > Many NICs (from various makers) have 'common' parts or the things that vary > > are minor or on the 'far side' of the interface or something (not > > 'visible' to > > the software). In which case one software driver can manage with whole > > families of NIC board/chipsets. The RealTek 8100 series NIC is a case of > > this. > > There are several variations, from motherboard based versions to plain PCI > > and > > PCI Express, boards etc. The basic set of device registers are all much the > > same, with maybe minor variations. > > When you mention the registers(the low-level part), I see that I'm getting > the point > > In many cases the core NIC controler 'chip' > > might be the same in several different boards and the boards only vary in > > things like form factor or type of bus interface. > > I now think of this as "Though the bus interfaces vary, it is the duty of > the controller > to take care of; in any case, the driver has to deal only with the > controller and > hence 'one driver is for one controller but not the board' " > > Are my conclusions valid? </div></div>In essence, yes. In some cases there are different controllers, but they all present the same software interface -- the differences are 'invisible' to the software driver -- usually the differences are things like power supply voltages or signaling methods or something. In which case you have a 'family' of controller chips that all have the same driver API, but may be different at other levels (say a twisted pair NIC vs. a Coax NIC, like some old 3COM NICs, which came in versions with either a thin coax connector, or a RJ45, or a 15-pin tranceiver [thick coax] connector, but otherwise were all the same otherwise). In the case of the aic7xxx driver, it is for a whole slew of Adaptec SCSI controllers, with three different bus interfaces (EISA, VLB, and PCI, both as add in boards and built onto the motherboard), with different SCSI-bus configurations (narrow (8bit), wide (16bit), SE, differencial, low-voltage differencial (LVD), standard speed, fast speed, ultra [fast] speed) and different types of connectors (internal, external, etc.) -- each flavor had its own model number and product id, but the same driver works for all of them. <div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"> > > > > In other cases, different > > board level makers have bought chips from a common chip maker and had the > > vendor/product ids changed, but the chips are otherwise exactly the same, > > and > > so are completely interchangable from an software driver POV. RealTek makes > > the chips, but generally does not make the boards. > > > > > > > > Q) Also, there are many "device: <other numbers>" in the quote below. > > Does > > > it mean that all these devices work well with the driver I'm using? > > > > Yes. See above. > > > Thank you very much for responding. I would be better if you could check my > conclusions drawn above > > > > > > > > > > > Help text > > > > > > > > Say Y here if you have a Realtek 8169 PCI Gigabit Ethernet adapter. > > > > > > > > To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the module will be > > > > called r8169. This is recommended. > > > > Hardware PCI > > > > > > > > Numeric ID (from LKDDb) and names (from pci.ids) of recognized devices: > > > > > > > > - vendor: 0001, device: 8168 > > > > - vendor: 10ec ("*Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.*"), device: 8129 > > (" > > > > *RTL-8129*") > > > > - vendor: 10ec ("*Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.*"), device: 8136 > > ("*RTL8101E/RTL8102E > > > > PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller*") > > > > - vendor: 10ec ("*Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.*"), device: 8167 > > ("*RTL-8110SC/8169SC > > > > Gigabit Ethernet*") > > > > - vendor: 10ec ("*Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.*"), device: 8168 > > ("*RTL8111/8168/8411 > > > > PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller*") > > > > - vendor: 10ec ("*Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.*"), device: 8169 > > ("*RTL8169 > > > > PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller*") > > > > - vendor: 1186 ("*D-Link System Inc*"), device: 4300 ("*DGE-528T > > > > Gigabit Ethernet Adapter*") > > > > - vendor: 1259 ("*Allied Telesis*"), device: c107 > > > > - vendor: 16ec ("*U.S. Robotics*"), device: 0116 ("*USR997902 > > > > 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI Network Card*") > > > > - vendor: 1737 ("*Linksys*"), device: 1032 ("*Gigabit Network > > Adapter* > > > > ") > > > > > > > > Please ask for more details if necessary. > > > > > > <<a href="http://about.me/shashank.computers" target="_blank">http://about.me/shashank.computers</a>> > > > > > > > > > > > > S.V.R.S.N. Shashank > > > <a href="http://about.me/shashank.computers" target="_blank">about.me/shashank.computers</a> > > > <<a href="http://about.me/shashank.computers" target="_blank">http://about.me/shashank.computers</a>> > > > > > > We’ve created the greatest collection of shared knowledge in history. > > Help > > > protect Wikipedia. Donate now: <a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org" target="_blank">https://donate.wikimedia.org</a> > > > MIME-Version: 1.0 > > > > > > > -- > > Robert Heller -- <a href="tel:978-544-6933" value="+19785446933">978-544-6933</a> / <a href="mailto:heller@deepsoft.com">heller@deepsoft.com</a> > > Deepwoods Software -- <a href="http://www.deepsoft.com/" target="_blank">http://www.deepsoft.com/</a> > > () ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail > > /\ <a href="http://www.asciiribbon.org" target="_blank">www.asciiribbon.org</a> -- against proprietary attachments > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > ubuntu-users mailing list > > <a href="mailto:ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com</a> > > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: > > <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users</a> > > > > > > -- Robert Heller -- <a href="tel:978-544-6933" value="+19785446933">978-544-6933</a> / <a href="mailto:heller@deepsoft.com">heller@deepsoft.com</a> Deepwoods Software -- <a href="http://www.deepsoft.com/" target="_blank">http://www.deepsoft.com/</a> () ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail /\ <a href="http://www.asciiribbon.org" target="_blank">www.asciiribbon.org</a> -- against proprietary attachments </div><div class="h5">Thank you very much Mr. Robert Heller! </div></div></blockquote></div> </div></div>