ET(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 ET(4) 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for et, living in the Kernel Interfaces Manual section 4 (that's the drivers section, iykyk). It's giving "your network card deserves a glow-up" energy. Let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

et — the Agere ET1310 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet driver. That's it, that's the name. Short, sweet, iconic. 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

So you wanna get this driver into your kernel? Bet. Drop these lines into your kernel configuration file, no cap:

device miibus
device et

OR, if you'd rather be cute and load it as a module at boot time instead, you go ahead and put this line in loader.conf(5):

if_et_load="YES"

Both roads lead to Ethernet, bestie. Choose your fighter. 🦋

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

The et driver supports PCI Express Ethernet adapters based on the Agere ET1310 chip. That's the whole vibe. 🫶

Now, this driver supports the following media types:

  • autoselect — Enables autoselection of the media types and options. If you're a control freak (respect), the user can manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to the /etc/rc.conf file. Main character energy, honestly. 👑
  • 10baseT/UTP — Sets 10Mbps operation. The mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes. Retro but make it functional. 🍓
  • 100baseTX — Sets 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation. The mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes. Fast, but not that fast. Still slays. 💅
  • 1000baseT — Sets 1000Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet) operation. The mediaopt option can only be set to full-duplex mode. Periodt. No half-duplex for you, she doesn't do things by halves. 🔥

And the media options, because we love options:

  • full-duplex — Force full-duplex operation. Both directions at once, she's multitasking. ✨
  • half-duplex — Force half-duplex operation. One at a time, she's pacing herself. 🌸
Heads up bestie: the 1000baseT media type is only available if it is supported by the adapter. So like, don't come for her if your hardware doesn't have it. 🙈

For more info on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8). Go get your networking on. 🌈

💖 HARDWARE 💖

The et driver supports Agere ET1310 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet adapters. That's the list. That's the whole list. She knows her type and she's not expanding her roster. 💜

⭐ TUNABLES ⭐

These are the knobs and dials, bestie. Turn them responsibly. 🎀

  • hw.et.rx_intr_npkts — This value controls how many packets should be received before a receive interrupt is generated. The default value is 32. It is recommended to set this value above 38 to prevent the host from being livelocked under a high degree of stress. So like… 32 is the default but lowkey bump it up if you're getting slammed. 😭
  • hw.et.rx_intr_delay — This value delays the generation of receive interrupts in units of ~4 microseconds. It is used together with hw.et.rx_intr_npkts to achieve RX interrupt moderation. The default value is 20. Teamwork makes the dream work. 🤝
  • hw.et.tx_intr_nsegs — This value controls how many segments (not packets, don't get it twisted) should be transmitted before a transmit interrupt is generated. The default value is 126. It is recommended to set this value below 280 to prevent the TX ring from underflowing. Stay under 280, bestie. 🚨
  • hw.et.timer — This value controls how often a timer interrupt should be generated. It is used together with hw.et.tx_intr_nsegs to achieve TX interrupt moderation. The default value is 1000000000 (nanoseconds). Yeah, that's a billion. She's got range. 💀

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

The whole friend group, assembled: altq(4), arp(4), miibus(4), netintro(4), ng_ether(4), vlan(4), ifconfig(8).

Go read them, they're all bangers. 📚

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

The et device driver first appeared in DragonFly 1.11. The first FreeBSD release to include it was FreeBSD 8.0. She's been around, she's seen things, she's thriving. ⭐

💜 AUTHORS 💜

The et driver was written by Sepherosa Ziehau <sepherosa@gmail.com> for DragonFly. It was ported to FreeBSD by Xin LI <delphij@FreeBSD.org>. Absolute legends, both of them. We stan. 👑

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one shipped from the Debian crew, dated December 9, 2011 — vintage but still eating. go forth and configure your NIC 💖✨🎀

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