henry@yogi.fhhosp.ab.ca (02/12/91)
I have a Z386/20 that I want to put on an ethernet network. Since it has both ESDI and AT slots, I was wondering: 1) Does anyone make ethernet cards for ESDI 2) Is it worth the extra money Thanks, -Henry Bland
djo7613@milton.u.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (02/13/91)
You mean EISA (extended industry standard architecture bus), not ESDI (a hard disk interface spec). At this point in time, I haven't seen any supported claims of better network throughput using EISA cards. The standard 8-bit and 16-bit network cards we use seem plenty fast enough over 10 mbit Ethernet. But my only experience is with small (up to 20) machine local area networks. If your network is enterprise-wide or international, it's a whole new can of worms.
nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) (02/13/91)
In article <1991Feb11.215514.1768@yogi.fhhosp.ab.ca> henry@yogi.fhhosp.ab.ca writes:
I have a Z386/20 that I want to put on an ethernet network. Since it
has both EISA and AT slots, I was wondering:
1) Does anyone make ethernet cards for EISA
Yes, MYLEX does. I know nothing more about them than their existance.
2) Is it worth the extra money
Hard to say. A good bit of your speed is lost transferring the packets
from the board's memory to the system memory. So, if the board really
is a 32-bit board, AND your packet transfers are aligned on 32-bit
boundaries, you should see some speed increase.
--
--russ <nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu> I'm proud to be a humble Quaker.
It's better to get mugged than to live a life of fear -- Freeman Dyson
I joined the League for Programming Freedom, and I hope you'll join too.GR.MRB@isumvs.iastate.edu (MARK BERAN) (02/15/91)
In article <1991Feb11.215514.1768@yogi.fhhosp.ab.ca>, henry@yogi.fhhosp.ab.ca writes: >I have a Z386/20 that I want to put on an ethernet network. Since it >has both ESDI and AT slots, I was wondering: > > 1) Does anyone make ethernet cards for ESDI > 2) Is it worth the extra money > >Thanks, >-Henry Bland ESDI? Enhanced Small Device Interface? This is a hard drive interface, not a bus architecture. What you have is ISA expansion slots (Industry Standard Architecture - AT if you will). We have chosen to use the 8-bit Western Digital WD8003e ethernet board for most of our workstations, and the 16-bit Western Digital WD8013ebt for our servers. You should be able to get them for around $160 and $250 respectively. Good Luck. Mark.