3com 900B-TPC combo, BNC (thinnet or cheapernet) on debian

Discussion in 'Installation/Configuration' started by carew86, Sep 9, 2009.

  1. carew86

    carew86 New Member

    So I have this computer (let's call it coax) with a 3com 900B-tpc network card in it. The network card works fine when it is connected through rj45 (utp). But the card is capable of two connection types (rj45 and BNC). I have an thinnet switch that seems to work (never tested the BNC connection but the ethernet connectors works just fine). So I asked around for a 50ohm cable hooked it up like this:

    -On both device's I have a T-piece connected (pc and switch).

    -Between both is a coax cable and at each end is 50ohm terminator.

    The problem is that debian can't get dhcp from the server. When I plug the rj45 cable into the switch and the pc everything works fine. I guess debian is asking for a ip on the wrong connector (?). This setup is just for learning purpose. If you have an idea on how to solve the problem please let me know. I appreciate any advice on this matter. I already searched the web but its a bit hard to get info or documentation on coax or cheapernet.

    Here is more info on drivers and stuff (I left out irrelevant info):

    # lspci
    ...
    01:0b.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c900B-TPC Etherlink XL [Cyclone] (rev 04)
    # ifconfig
    eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:10:5a:f1:54:77
    inet addr:192.168.1.114 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
    inet6 addr: fe80::210:5aff:fef1:5477/64 Scope:Link
    UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
    RX packets:480 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:177 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:3
    collisions:1 txqueuelen:1000
    RX bytes:46506 (45.4 KiB) TX bytes:24997 (24.4 KiB)
    Interrupt:11 Base address:0x6000
    ...
    # uname -a
    Linux coax 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP Wed Aug 19 06:06:52 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
    # lsmod | grep 3c
    3c59x 35624 0
    mii 4896 1 3c59x
    #

    If any info needed let me know.

    Thanks in advance,

    Carew
     
  2. carew86

    carew86 New Member

    I think my switch is not capable of converting from thinnet to ethernet. I installed another networkcard in a winxp pc. The win xp pc was as well unable to get an ip and I had limited or no connectivity to internet. So the hub is not good. I will do some more testing this weekend by hooking up the debian and the winxp to each other (give them both an ip) and ssh or transfer some files over samba orso.

    Btw the hub is a 3com as wel (TP4combo "Office connect").

    Grtzz
     

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