NAME

       ep — Ethernet driver for 3Com Etherlink III (3c5x9) interfaces

SYNOPSIS

       To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following line in your kernel configuration file:

             device ep

       Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in loader.conf(5):

             if_ep_load="YES"

DEPRECATION NOTICE

       The      ep     driver     is     not     present     in     FreeBSD     13.0     and     later.      See
       https://github.com/freebsd/fcp/blob/master/fcp-0101.md for more information.

DESCRIPTION

       The ep device driver supports network adapters based on the 3Com 3C5x9  Etherlink  III  Parallel  Tasking
       chipset.

       Various models of these cards come with a different assortment of connectors:

       AUI/DIX               Standard 15 pin connector, also known as 10base5 (thick-net)

       10Base2               BNC, also known as thin-net

       10BaseT               UTP, also known as twisted pair

       The default port to use is the port that has been selected with the setup utility.  To override this, use
       the following media options with ifconfig(8) or in your /etc/rc.conf file.

       10base5/AUI           Use the AUI port.

       10base2/BNC           Use the BNC port.

       10baseT/UTP           Use the UTP port.

HARDWARE

       The  ep driver supports Ethernet adapters based on the 3Com 3C5x9 Etherlink III Parallel Tasking chipset,
       including:

       •   3Com 3C1 CF
       •   3Com 3C509-TP, 3C509-BNC, 3C509-Combo, 3C509-TPO, 3C509-TPC ISA
       •   3Com 3C509B-TP, 3C509B-BNC, 3C509B-Combo, 3C509B-TPO, 3C509B-TPC ISA
       •   3Com 3C562/3C563 PCMCIA
       •   3Com 3C574, 3C574TX, 3C574-TX, 3CCFE574BT, 3CXFE574BT, 3C3FE574BT PCMCIA
       •   3Com 3C589, 3C589B, 3C589C, 3C589D, 3CXE589DT PCMCIA
       •   3Com 3CCFEM556B, 3CCFEM556BI PCMCIA
       •   3Com 3CXE589EC, 3CCE589EC, 3CXE589ET, 3CCE589ET PCMCIA
       •   3Com Megahertz 3CCEM556, 3CXEM556, 3CCEM556B, 3CXEM556B, 3C3FEM556C PCMCIA
       •   3Com OfficeConnect 3CXSH572BT, 3CCSH572BT PCMCIA
       •   Farallon EtherWave and EtherMac PC Card (P/n 595/895 with BLUE arrow)

NOTES

       The 3c509 card has no jumpers to set the address.  3Com supplies software to set the address of the  card
       in software.  To find the card on the ISA bus, the kernel performs a complex scan operation at IO address
       0x110.  Beware!  Avoid placing other cards at that address!

       Furthermore, the 3c509 should not be configured in EISA mode.

       Cards  in  PnP  mode  may  conflict  with  other resources in the system.  Ensure your BIOS is configured
       correctly to exclude resources used by the 3c509, especially IRQs, to avoid unpredictable behavior.

       Many different companies sold the 3Com PC Cards under their own private label.  These cards also work.

       The Farallon EtherWave and EtherMac card came in two varieties.  The ep driver supports the 595  and  895
       cards.   These  cards  have the blue arrow on the front along with a 3Com logo.  The Farallon 595a cards,
       which have a red arrow on the front, are also called EtherWave and EtherMac.  They are supported  by  the
       sn(4) driver.

DIAGNOSTICS

       ep0:  reset  (status:  %x)  The driver has encountered a FIFO underrun or overrun.  The driver will reset
       the card and the packet will be lost.  This is not fatal.

       ep0: eeprom failed to come ready  The eeprom failed to come ready.   This  probably  means  the  card  is
       wedged.

       ep0:  3c509  in  test  mode. Erase pencil mark!  This means that someone has scribbled with pencil in the
       test area on the card.  Erase the pencil mark and reboot.  (This is not a joke).

       ep0: No I/O space?!  The driver was unable to allocate the I/O space that  it  thinks  should  be  there.
       Look for conflicts with other devices.

       ep0:  No  irq?!    The  driver  could not allocate the interrupt it wanted.  Look for conflicts, although
       sharing interrupts for PC Card is normal.

       ep0: No connectors!  The driver queried the hardware for what ethernet attachment were present,  but  the
       hardware reported none that the driver recognized.

       ep0: Unable to get Ethernet address!  The driver was unable to read the ethernet address from the EEPROM.
       This is likely the result of the card being wedged.

       ep0:  if_alloc()  failed    The  driver  was  unable  to  allocate a ifnet structure.  This may happen in
       extremely low memory conditions.

       ep0: strange connector type in EEPROM: assuming AUI  The driver  does  not  know  what  to  do  with  the
       information the EEPROM has about connectors, so it is assuming the worst.

       ep0:  unknown ID 0xXXXXXXXX  The driver has found an ID that it believes it supports, but does not have a
       specific identification string to present to the user.

       ep0: <%s> at port 0x%03x in EISA mode, ignored.  The 3C509 ISA card is in EISA mode.  The  card  will  be
       ignored until it is taken out of EISA mode.

       ep0:  <%s>  at x0%03x in PnP mode  This card appears to be in Plug and Play mode.  It should be probed as
       part of the plug and play phase of the ISA probes.

       ep0: Invalid EEPROM checksum!  The EEPROM has a bad checksum, so the driver is ignoring the card.

       ep0: bus_setup_intr() failed!  The driver was unable to setup the interrupt handler.  This  should  never
       happen.

SEE ALSO

       altq(4), ed(4), intro(4), ng_ether(4), sn(4), vx(4), ifconfig(8)

STANDARDS

       are great.  There is so many to choose from.

Debian                                          October 24, 2018                                           EP(4)