dbr@foxvax5.UUCP (D.B. Robinson ) (11/26/85)
[line eater sacrifice] We here at Foxboro are using the 3Com IE-34-0780 ethernet controller board in our PC clone machines and the EtherShare software to talk MS-DOS on our desks. Some of us would like to run Venix instead. There is a technical description document from 3Com named "IE Ethernet Controller/Transceiver External Reference Specifications" and within that, it references Appendix A for using the board under interrupt control. Our problem is that we don't have that appendix. And we have just learned from the New Hampshire office of 3Com that they don't have it either. In fact, from everything we have heard, it seems that Appendix A WAS NEVER WRITTEN. Now everything would still be ok if the board worked reasonably, but after many readings and many more attempts at coding a solution, we are only slightly furthur ahead than when we started. This board is FLAKEY. Resetting the board (without the interrupt request bits set) WILL produce an interrupt - SOMETIMES... Transmission of a packet WITH the interrupt request bits set sometimes NEVER interrupts... Sometimes, upon receipt of an interrupt all the BUSY bits are still set (why then did we GET an interrupt?)... We contacted 3Com in California and they referred us to the local sales office in New Hampshire. The person there said she would try to get the Appendix, although the copy she had did NOT have it. Then we were informed that the appendix had never been written. When we informed her of the priority/urgency of this project she said she would try to put us in touch with someone with the desired information. We expected a call from someone at 3Com. Nope. In the middle of last week we were contacted by a company called (forgive us if we spell it wrong - we have only had voice communication so far) Valinor (also of New Hampshire) which claims to be 3Com's LARGEST distributor. The man we talked to was very nice, but the first thing he told us was that since we had not bought the boards from him [we bought the boards as part of a system from Zenith...], there would probably be a charge in our dealings somewhere... (everybody likes to make money :-)). We communicated our problem and what we needed in the line of support and he said he would get back to me. We also communicated the extremely high priority of this work. In the last two days (Friday and Monday) we have tried to contact him twice and all we got was ringing. We thought that we had been given his direct line since there was no secretary or answering machine - until we called directory service and found that the number we were dialing was the main telephone number for the company... <<<<<<<<<< FLAME ON >>>>>>>>>> Is anybody from 3Com on the net and listening? When we called 3Com to talk to somebody about this document, we were told that they need a P.O. just to talk ( $45.00 ). All we want (for now) is their COMPLETE document. We have already paid good money for a couple HUNDRED of their boards and we were planning on buying more (maybe not, now). We are willing to pay good money for the manual for this board (assuming it is NOT what we already have). New boards are NOT a valid solution due to the investment in the ones we currently have. We are getting the royal runaround. And we NEED this information. This is no way to treat your customers 3Com. <<<<<<<<<< FLAME OFF >>>>>>>>>> If any of you out there in the net have managed to get this information (how to talk to this board under interrupt control) please let me hear from you. We will summarize if response warrants. 3Com - We're listening. Thanks in advance for any help. Warren and Doug (e-mail to cybvax0!foxvax5!dbr please) ------------------------------ Warren Brown Douglas Robinson The Foxboro Company Department 350 cybvax0!foxvax5!spec2 (Warren Brown) 38 Neponset Avenue cybvax0!foxvax5!dbr (Doug Robinson) Foxboro, MA 02035 617/543-8750