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Date:	Sat, 11 Jan 2003 12:20:32 PST8
From:	Michael Rakijas <mrakijas@oco.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help <scoug-help@scoug.com >
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: DLink NIC

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** Reply to message from "J. R. Fox" on Fri, 10 Jan 2003
10:40:47 PST8

> Rocky wrote:
>
[...snip...]

> > I wouldn't be surprised if this was dependent on which of the available drivers
> > was being used (considering how many I've seen) but right now, my performance
> > demands are pretty low. A little file exchange and with the whole network
> > sharing a dialup line to the Internet. Even when I make the move to broadband,
> > I'm pretty sure the system still won't be taxed. Hopefully, by the time I'm
> > really ready for something that will push a 10/100, I will have gone through a
> > full generation of upgrades throughout the house, computers included. I'll keep
> > that in mind, though,
>
> I don't know just what the "+" model indicates, by way of any differences, but I've
> been using the older DLink 530-Tx ever since I got DSL service a couple years back.
> It's functioning under Warp / eCS has been fine, a total non-issue. I do recall that
> locating the driver was a bit of a hassle. There was an OS/2 directory on the s/w
> diskette, but it was empty. Either the proper driver(s) were somewhere unexpected
> on the disk, or maybe I found them somewhere else, such as the DDPak. In any case,
> when I found them, no corrections were necessary; I just plugged them in, and it was
> off to the races.

As it turns out, the DLink 530TX and the 530TX+ are completely different cards.
The 530TX had been my standard netcard for a long time and was, I believe, based
on a DEC chip (I'm not positive). I have maybe a half dozen of these strewn
about my network and have been generally happy, once you can find the driver for
it. Since I did, and replicated it everywhere I've needed it, I have had no
trouble. The 530TX+ is based on the RealTek 8139 (relabeled DL10038C in the
DLink application) and was developed by DLink presumably because they needed a
Wake-On-LAN capability which the 530TX does not have. Personally, I don't care
about that feature but DLink stopped building the 530TX around the time of the
switchover and I found it increasingly difficult to find it. I bought a bunch
of them, anticipating the eventual demise of the 530TX and it's only now that
I'm starting to exhaust my supply. Before I knew it was a completely different
card, I moved over to the 530TX+ since I had been happy with DLink and seemed to
be able to find the OS/2 driver for it. Even after I found out it was RealTek
based, I wasn't unhappy because before my move to 10/100 cards, I had RealTek
(8129?) cards and had been very happy with them. In short, I have no reason to
believe that my problems are related to the RealTek based card but the problem I
am debugging on my network is coincident with the start of my broader use of the
530TX+ card. I still don't think this is the problem but the jury may still be
out on this.

> There is something to be said for avoiding upgrades: simpler is often better, particularly
> on our little island, and a 10/100 NIC is probably going to perform like another 10/100
> NIC, "improved" model or otherwise. In case you were wondering, I still see the original
> 530-TX sometimes at local computer shows. Probably down to around 8 bucks, by now.

I tend to agree, hence my adoption of the 530TX as my basic card and my
purchase of a personal stockpile. Unfortunately, DLink decided to move on. I
scour the shows, too and have not seen a new 530TX in a long, long time. I'd be
extremely wary of a 530TX card at a show now since DLink has acknowledged
discontinuing them a long time ago. I wouldn't care if it were shrinkwrapped,
it might very well be a used card. Of course, if I do determine that the net
card is the source of my difficulty, I'll certainly reevaluate my move to the
530TX+.

> Jordan

-Rocky

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