Re: [linux-tr] Madge Token Ring cards

[Greg Bohling <nelot01@nol.org>]

So far I have not had the problems with the latest driver that I did
with the older version (ie. network mysteriously dropping), although
I don't run very high loads right now.  However, I have been doing some
industrial-strength remote printing and have yet to have the driver
stop working.  It is fairly painless to install, provided that you
have tokenring compiled into your kernel.

Obviously, having the driver source open, and better yet, merged with
the kernel tree, would be better than having to install it separately,
but the quick download is much better than the "e-mail us all of your
vital statistics and we'll e-mail you back some attachments with the
code in them" method of before.

If they're looking for ways to make improvements, I'd suggest more
adapter support.  I would guess that most people are in the same
situation that I am in.  We've been running tokenring "forever" and have
stockpiled a bunch of cards.  Now we want to add linux boxes to our
network, but usually can't justify buying a new token ring adapter that
is 'linux compatible' when we have a box full of unused cards.  In my
case, I have tons of "Smart 16/4 AT Ringnode" ISA cards, but was lucky
enough to have one spare PCI Mk2 card to use in my linux machine.  As
long as Madge shows some faith in my investment, I'll continue to buy
Madge cards.

Incidentally, since I was able to get a linux box on our network with
the Madge card I had, I've managed to reduce a fax/print operation from
a 2-3 hour process to a 5 minute process by eliminating the overhead of
a certain other operating system.  This is on a system built entirely
out of extra/spare/cast off parts.  The only expense I had to ask for
was $99 for some more SDRAM.

Want to make your customers happy?  Provide the drivers that let them
perform miracles on shoestring budgets :)

-Greg
(P.S. Since the fax/print jobs run on the weekends, this machine is also
going to end up doubling as an intranet web server for the office.)
Mike Phillips wrote:
> 
> Talking of Madge, I have been contacted by the product marketing manager for madge token ring adapters.  He is looking for feedback on their new driver, how / whether it worked, whether the distribution method is ok etc.
...
> 
> Mike