[geeks] Linux disparity

[Mike Meredith]

On Wednesday 18 December 2002 3:36 pm, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> I have a lanplex2500 set to factory defaults.  However, the problem
> remains if I swap in a generic hub.  The generic hub doesn't show
> many collisions.  The Lanplex doesn't report collisions at all (at
> least not convieniently on the front of it like the hub does).

As you're getting the same problem with different "bits in the middle" 
it seems less likely to be an autonegotiation problem.

> Well, first, it is all 10mbit.  I thought autonegotiation was only
> for 100mbit.  Am I wrong on this?  How do I check autonegotiation? 

Your 3com cards will probably try autonegotiation, and should fall back 
to 10mps half-duplex. I have seen a 10mps autonegotiation failure, but 
that was with a Sis900-based card (and the performance was infinitely 
worse than yours). If it isn't autonegotation, it's worth trying 
swapping out the cables and then the network card ... especially if you 
have an indication that one of the machines is getting excessive 
collisions.

I'm not sure how you check autonegotation under Linux ... my machines 
here display a kernel message on bootup that indicates what they're 
talking at, but I can't find an equivalent message on my work machine 
(which has a 3com card).

You can fix the network card to a particular speed using ifconfig. I 
think it's :-

	ifconfig eth0 media 10baseT

> Just check ipconfig on each machine?

Been using the dark side too much recently ?