[ixp1200] recycling NICs from IXP12EB's, gig NICs & multiple IXP12EB's in a PC (running VERA)

[Scott C. Karlin]

On Mon, Nov 18, 2002 at 03:15:23PM -0000, Andrew Moore wrote:
> 
> 
> Q1. 
> 
> I have vera working happily on an ixp12eb (rev C.), can the ethernet
> board that comes with the ix12eb kit be recycled into a linux box?

Yes, it's an ordinary 10/100 Mbit card.  Red Hat Linux 7.2 had no
trouble automatically identifying the board.


> Q3 
> 
>  now this one might be a bit odd, however....
> 
> What problems are there with sticking several ixp12eb's into a machine?

It may be that multiple boards will draw too much current.  Since
these boards were designed for a passive backplane in a prototype
environment, they may not have been designed to meet every PCI spec.

> I assume in its current incarnation the vera drivers are not aware of
> several boards? (no I've not tried it)

Yes, they are!  The driver is configured for 4 boards.  If you
will use more, you need to change the definition of NBOARDS in the
main driver file: Runtime/linux-i386/driver/drvVera.c

> any ideas what the load is for an ixp12eb? is it going to 'cause the
> mobo pci supplies to be draining too much?

No, that's the main concern.  We've had as many as 3 boards in
one system at one time.  We regularly run systems with 2 boards.

Scott