The Ethernet-Howto covers what cards you should and
shouldn't buy; how to set
them up, how to run more than one, and other common problems and
questions. It contains detailed information on the current level
of support for all of the most common ethernet cards available.
It does not cover the software end of things, as that
is covered in the NET-2 Howto. Also note that general non-Linux
specific questions about Ethernet are not (or at least they should
not be) answered here. For those types of questions, see the
excellent amount of information in the comp.dcom.lans.ethernet
FAQ. You can FTP it from dorm.rutgers.edu in the directory
/pub/novell/info_and_docs/
This present revision covers distribution kernels up to and including v1.2.13. Information pertaining to development kernels up to version 1.3.42 is also documented.
The Ethernet-Howto is edited and maintained by:
Paul Gortmaker, Paul.Gortmaker@anu.edu.au
The primary source of the information for the initial Ethernet-Howto was from:
Donald J. Becker, becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
who we have to thank for writing the vast majority of ethernet card drivers that are presently available for Linux. He also is the original author of the NFS server too. Thanks Donald! We owe ya one! :-)
Net-surfers may wish to check out the following URL:
New versions of this document can be retrieved via anonymous FTP from:
and various Linux ftp mirror sites. Updates will be made as new information and/or drivers becomes available. If this copy that you are reading is more than 4 months old, it is either out of date, or it means that I have been lazy and haven't updated it. This document was produced by using the SGML system that was specifically set up for the Linux Howto project, and there are various output formats available, including, postscript, dvi, ascii, html, and soon TeXinfo.
I would recommend viewing it in the html (via a WWW browser) or the Postscript/dvi format. Both of these contain cross-references that are lost in the ascii translation.
If you want to get the official copy off sunsite, here is URL.
If minor additions and changes have been made, you can view the latest working copy from this URL.
As this guide is getting bigger and bigger, you probably don't want to spend the rest of your afternoon reading the whole thing. And you don't have to read it all. If you haven't got an ethernet card, then you will want to start with What card should I buy... to see what you should buy, and what you should avoid. If you have already got an ethernet card, but are not sure if you can use it with Linux, then you will want to read Vendor Specific... which contains specific information on each manufacturer, and their cards. If you are having trouble with your card, then you will want to read the specific information about your card mentioned above, and the troubleshooting information in the FAQ section. If you are interested in some of the technical aspects of the device drivers, then you can find that information in Technical Information
This document is not gospel. However, it is probably the most up to date info that you will be able to find. Nobody is responsible for what happens to your hardware but yourself. If your ethercard or any other hardware goes up in smoke (...nearly impossible!) we take no responsibility. ie. THE AUTHORS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES INCURRED DUE TO ACTIONS TAKEN BASED ON THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS DOCUMENT.
This document is Copyright (c) 1993, 1994, 1995 by Donald Becker and Paul Gortmaker. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this document under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that this copyright notice is included exactly as in the original, and that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this document into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
If you are intending to incorporate this document into a published work, please contact me, and I will make an effort to ensure that you have the most up to date information available. In the past, out of date versions of the Linux howto documents have been published, which caused the developers undue grief from being plagued with questions that were already answered in the up to date versions.