Distribution: Linux 2.6.18rc5 Hardware Environment: Realtek 8168 Network Card Problem Description: Realtek 8168 card doesn't work, kernel only include 8169 driver by default. New drivers for kernel 2.6 are available on Realtek website since about one month : ftp://210.51.181.211/cn/nic/r1000_v1.04.tgz Is it possible to add them by default ? This network chip is now used in many Asus laptop (for example).
Flo: [...] > Is it possible to add them by default ? As far as I am concerned, the wholesale inclusion is excluded [1]: - arguable/random CodingStyle - apparently less stable than the in-kernel driver - almost no ethtool (no VLAN, no TSO, no checksum, no WOL, etc.) - no revision control - no publicly known maintainer - no NAPI (ok, akpm does not care) Most notably, with help of several people, the current in-kernel driver has been (imho) carefully maintained and tested over time. The relevant changes from Realtek's successive drivers have been extracted and the recent chipsets seem very close to their predecessors: a new driver would not necessarily be a clever idea from a maintenance viewpoint. Regarding the current (2.6.19-rc1) kernel, there is some support for the 8168 but the merge of Realtek's latest changes has been reported to need further changes [2]. You can try 2.6.19-rc1 (and you will be welcome to report how it behaves) but there is a high probability that it will not detect the link correctly. If so, mii-tool should help. [1] It does not mean that I am not grateful to Realtek for their linux effort though. [2] If the 8168 is available on something less expensive than a laptop (say PCMCIA, PCI adapter or random el-cheapo lan on motherboard), I can afford to buy one. -- Ueimor
I've found some motherboards : Abit AB9-Pro, Asrock conroe945g-dvi board (depends of models). And I've found a patch made for Gentoo, if it can help... http://dev.gentoo.org/~dsd/kernel/r8168.patch
The Gentoo's patch is already included in 2.6.19-rc1 (in a different way but it will not make a functional difference). It would really help if you could give 2.6.19-rc1 a try. -- Ueimor
The link detection issue happens with the device 0x8136, not with the 8168. The code is available in any 2.6.19-rc. -- Ueimor