Suggestions for a PCI Gigabit Ethernet Card

It's getting close to fall again, which means upgrade time! I'd like to add a gigabit ethernet adapter to one of my boxes. Adding a new piece of hardware is usually pretty easy, but I've already had a swing-and-a-miss on this one. I bought a D-Link DGE530T a month or so ago (just got around to installing it though) only to find out that the newest rev of the card (the one that I bought) doesn't work well/at all in linux. From combing the HCL here at linuxquestions.org (Great idea Jeremy! Could it be searchable by type in the future?) I've found 6 or so adapters that "work". I'd like to ask all of you what your suggestions are (since the HCL doesn't seem to get that much traffic). I'm looking for a PCI gigabit ethernet adapter, support for jumbo frames would be nice, but not a necessity. I custom build my kernels so distro-specific support isn't necessary.

These are the cards I found in the HCL, please feel free to make any other suggestions as well.

• Linksys EG1032v3
• Linksys EG1032v2
• NETGEAR GA302T
• 3com 3c905C-TX/TX-M (Tornado)
• DLink DGE 528T

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

I wonder, maybe it would be a good idea to look at this question the other way 'round: have a good look into what (new/newer) devices are fully supported in-kernel-tree in the latest kernel you want to run, and based on that information, decide what make/model of card to invest in?

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl I wonder, maybe it would be a good idea to look at this question the other way 'round: have a good look into what (new/newer) devices are fully supported in-kernel-tree in the latest kernel you want to run, and based on that information, decide what make/model of card to invest in?

Actually, that would be fantastic. Any ideas on where to find that information? Or do I need to rifle through the changelogs for recent kernel releases?

I wouldn't. But you could if you like reading. There'd prolly be lots of detail there, and loads of irrelevant data too.

I would just start xconfig or menuconfig, load into it the .config for the kernel you run or plan to run (which kernel you want to build) and go to the network device section or LAN device section, and check out what's supported. Far as I know, the fact that it's a PCI card is pretty transparent to the kernel, though someone else could probably verify this for us for sure. Therefore, I think it's the LAN chipset which is most important, and hence, you want to see what LAN/Ethernit devices and chipsets are supported..

We use Intel cards successfully at the office. The drivers are already in kernels. Only problem is PCI-Express chipset does not do jumbo frames. $33 from NewEgg.

How could Intel not make the list? I vote for Intel NICs.