Difference between 3Com 3C905(-TX), 3C905B, 3C905C ??

[abovewood]

I am selling some 3C905-TX ($20 + shipping), and people usually ask the difference between 3Com 3C905(-TX), 3C905B, 3C905C. I also want to know myself.

The 3C905 doesn't have wake on LAN option, but the B and C do, right?

Also, I alway use it with Win98/SE built in driver. I believe Win2k driver is available from 3Com. Are 3Com drivers better than the built-in ones?

Do these cards work in linux?

thanks.

 

[hatboy]

These cards are basically different revisions of the same thing. C is newer than B, and B is newer than the plain 3c905. I think that you are correct that B and C have WOL (all of them that I've seen do, but there may be some odd models that don't). I've heard people say that the 905C is terrible, though I've never heard anyone say why. At work, we use a mixture of 905s, 905Bs, and 905Cs on about 40 computers running NT 4.0 and 2000. Honestly, I've never seen any difference between the models. They all use the same drivers and they all seem to work identically (we don't use WOL on any of them). I would definitely update the built-in Win98 drivers if I were you. I quote from 3com's FAQ: "Windows 98 has the built-in ability to support the EtherLink XL family of NICs. Unfortunately, even though Windows 98 is a new product, the EtherLink XL driver that comes with Windows 98 is quite old and may not work well under some conditions."

As for Linux, yes, these all work well in Linux. They use the 3c59x driver.

 

[abovewood]

thanks a lot.

How do I tell if they are wake on LAN cable? Does that require some connector for a cable to go in? I saw some kind of connectors on some Intel Pro 100+M.

The built in driver seem to work fine. Using a software called "NETCPS" on two 300mhz+ system, 64mb+ RAM,
I get about 7 or 8MB per second between 2 3Com 10/100, while 10baseT get about 1MB/sec. I think 100bT should be up to 10MB or 12MB/sec, but I have never seem thing go that fast.

Anyone have some opinion about the network data transfer speed?

 

[cavingjan]

Its a little connector reminiscent of the old soundblaster 16 cdrom cable connector but it is only a three wire connector. The ones that I have used were all white.

 

[AfterBurn]

the C version is capable to remote boot by TCP/IP DHCP and netware protocols, w/o installing drivers and or any software. Ideal for diskless workstations. The thing has NOT a boot rom, it has network and boot protocols built in.

 

[tim0thy]

yup... BOOTP (reminence of old diskless unix days ahhh )