Subject: SONIC ethernet driver
To: None <port-mac68k@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Mark Andres <mark@giganet.net>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 04/14/1997 21:13:23
Hi,

I have been using the GENERIC-27 kernel with the SONIC driver for 
several days now and I wanted to provide some feedback.  While it 
will now NOT crash the system when you attempt ifconfig, on my
Centris 650, the performance is so poor that it is unusable.

I have a small LAN setup in my workroom.  I have a Mac IIcx running
NetBSD 1.2 standard distribution + Taras kernel.  The IIcx has an 
Asante Nubus ethernet card.  I also have a Centris 650 running the 
-current with GENERIC-27 kernel.  I have it connected via the 
on-board ethernet.  I have a Mac IIvi with Daystar PPC upgrade card
and Nubus ethernet card running KanjiTalk (Japanese MacOS) 7.5.1 
OT 1.1.1.  These three machines are connected to a standard 8-port 
hub.

Pings to/from the C650 (SONIC) to/from any other machine take between
5-9 seconds!  Plus, there is a lot of packet loss.  Sometimes the 
C650 seems to drop of the network completely.  Pings to/from the IIcx
to/from the IIvi take 0.01-0.02 seconds with no packet loss.  This 
looks more reasonable.  I have things set up exactly the same on the
IIcx and the C650.  Here is the ifconfig for the C650

ratbert# ifconfig -a
sn0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST>
        inet 10.0.0.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.0.255
ppp0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST>
ppp1: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST>
lo0: flags=8009<UP,LOOPBACK,MULTICAST>
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
sl0: flags=c010<POINTOPOINT,LINK2,MULTICAST>

And here is the netstat -i

Name  Mtu   Network     Address              Ipkts Ierrs    Opkts Oerrs  Coll
sn0   1500  <Link>      8.0.7.c.97.23         2402     0      611     0     0
sn0   1500  10/24       ratbert               2402     0      611     0     0
ppp0* 1500  <Link>                           16190     2    16555     0     0
ppp1* 1500  <Link>                               0     0        0     0     0
lo0   32768 <Link>                             199     0      199     0     0
lo0   32768 your-net    localhost              199     0      199     0     0
sl0*  296   <Link>                               0     0        0     0     0

I am very concerned about the gross disparity in in packets and out
packets.

If someone has found a way around this, I would really like to 
know how to get better performance.

Mark

Mark Andres             E-mail: mark@giganet.net
    Running NetBSD and 100% Microsoft Free!
URL: http://www2.giganet.net/private/users/mark/