
               Phobos E100 Drivers Modification Information

        How to get the standard 3Com 3c597 card working in Indigo2

                Last Change: 21/Jul/2010, by Ian Mapleson


My thanks to Tony Mantler, Gavin Saxby and Sergio.


Introduction
^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm assuming your 3c597 card is already physically installed in
the target Indigo2. Install it in the bottom EISA slot below the
graphics card set. Note that although this is the recommended
position, I have found it does work ok if the card must be in
a different slot for other reasons, eg. if your system is
a teal Indigo2 with XL+Indigo2Video+CosmoCompress (this 3 card
set must sit in the lower GIO slot position, leaving only the
top EISA slot free). Some people have said the EISA card won't
work if it's not in the bottom slot, but this isn't true.
Nonetheless, use the bottom slot if possible. See the included
image called example.jpg which shows a typical installation,
in this case a system with HighIMPACT/4MB, Indigo2Video-for-IMPACT
and the 3Com 10/100 card.


How to Use This Bundle
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Download the E100 drivers, either from Phobos' web site or my
depot page:

  http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/depot/

The file is called:

  E100-IRIX-v2.3.3.tar

If you're reading this from my Gifts CD, then the tar file is
in the same directory /CDROM/FastEthernet.

The tar file unzips some OS-specific directories (5.3, 6.2, 6.5),
each containing a dist directory that has the appropriate SGI-format
software, plus a README file and an INSTALL file.

Point swmgr to the appropriate directory and install the drivers
just like any other product, eg. for 6.5 users:

  swmgr -f 6.5/dist

while for 6.2 users:

  swmgr -f 6.2/dist

and for 5.3 users:

  swmgr -f 5.3/dist

After installation, exit swmgr and then replace the standard Phobos
FastEthernet (fe) driver library with the appropriate modified library
as follows:

  - if you're using an IP22 Indigo2 (any R4xxx system) running IRIX 5.3
    then enter this:

       /bin/cp if_fe.oIP22Irix53 /var/sysgen/boot/if_fe.o

  - if you're using an IP22 Indigo2 (any R4xxx system) running IRIX 6.2,
    then enter this:

       /bin/cp if_fe.o_6.2IP22 /var/sysgen/boot/if_fe.o

  - if you're using an IP22 Indigo2 (any R4xxx system) running IRIX 6.5
    or any 6.5.x update, then enter this:

       /bin/cp if_fe.o /var/sysgen/boot/if_fe.o

  - if you're using an IP28 Indigo2 (any R10000 system), then
    enter this:

       /bin/cp if_fe.o_IP28 /var/sysgen/boot/if_fe.o

HOWEVER: if your system for some reason is not an IP22 or IP28
machine, then don't use the libraries included in this archive.
Instead, compile the fehack.c program yourself and run it after
installing the Phobos drivers. For details of changes for 5.3,
see my main web page on this subject:

  http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/fastether.html#5.3


Anyway, now find the following line in the /etc/config/netif.options file:

  : if1name=

and change it to this (ie. uncomment the line and add fe0 to the end):

  if1name=fe0

Then uncomment the related line:

  : if1addr=$HOSTNAME

so that it looks like this:

  if1addr=$HOSTNAME

Save and exit the file.

Next, enter the following to create a new kernel:

  /etc/autoconfig -v

then reboot the system. Login as root.

Now use the FEControl GUI program to set the link speed and duplex
mode. I just force the card to 100Mbit and full-duplex since I use a
16-port switch, but if you're using a 100Mbit hub then select 100Mbit
half-duplex.

Alternatively, make the changes using the command-line fe_control
program, eg. to set to 100MBit full-duplex:

  fe_control -i fe0 -d full -s 100

Just to make sure, I turn off the unwanted port and then stop and
restart the network at this point:

  ifconfig ec0 down
  /etc/init.d/network stop
  /etc/init.d/network start

If you're doing all this via a remote connection, then run the
above network commands together in background:

  cd /etc/init.d
  (./network stop && ./network start)&

Use 'ifconfig -av' and fe_control (with no options) to make sure the
new 100Mbit port is active and the old 10Mbit is turned off. If all
goes ok, the output commands should look something like this:

  # ifconfig -av
  fe0: flags=c63<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,FILTMULTI,MULTICAST>
          inet aa.bb.cc.dd netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast aa.bb.cc.255
  ec0: flags=802<BROADCAST,MULTICAST>
          speed 10.00 Mbit/s half-duplex
  lo0: flags=1849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,CKSUM>
          inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
  # fe_control
  Phobos E100 Driver version 2.3.3
  fe0: full-duplex, 100Base-T (forced), revision 1

where aa.bb.cc.dd is the IP address of your machine (eg. 192.168.10.90).
Note that although ec0 is shown as 10Mbit half-duplex, the port
itself is turned off (there is no 'UP' shown in the flags section) so
there is no conflict with fe0.

For full details, including an example performance test (I get a
maximum speed of about 6MB/sec with a 3c597 in an Indigo2), see my
FastEthernet information page:

  http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/fastether.html

See the Phobos INSTALL file for details on how to setup the
card as something other than the primary interface.


It's a good idea to make a backup of the driver files. I recommend
copying all the files, including the E100 driver tar file, into a
directory called /usr/local/src/3c597, and also copy everything
onto a floppy as an extra backup. My Depot resources page has all
the files though too.

Cheers! :)

Ian.

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