Re: xl(4) opinions

[Richard Welty <rwelty_(_at_)_averillpark_(_dot_)_net>]

On Fri, 7 Mar 2003 07:16:39 -0500 "Joseph C. Bender" <jcbender_(_at_)_benderhome_(_dot_)_net> wrote:
    
>         I'll second this, and I can back it up.  
> 
> Our installed-base of machines is 95% dell, 100% dell on the desktop,
> with a 
> smattering of mobile users using Thinkpads.
> 
> The onboard 3C920 (The OEM chipset version of the 905C) has BIG media
> issues.  
> Especially if you use Cisco switches.  Neither is very good at
> negotiation, 
> so you always have to force it to 100/auto.

i concur. we had a very functional 100BaseT infrastructure at a startup a
couple of years back, and then started getting dells with the early 905C
cards in them. they didn't interoperate well at all with Lantronix, Cisco,
and Cabletron (Enterasys/Riverstone) gear already in place that from our
perspective was working perfectly.

Dell was initially very unhelpful, claiming that there was nothing wrong
with the cards. we eventually punted them in favor of cards that worked
right.

i'm no fan of the 905c

richard
--
Richard Welty                                         rwelty_(_at_)_averillpark_(_dot_)_net
Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
              Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security