URE(4)

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

💖 URE(4) 💖 — the RealTek RTL8152/RTL8153 USB-to-Ethernet tea ☕

ok so bestie, this is ure(4), from the Kernel Interfaces Manual section, and it's the manual for the ure driver: the RealTek RTL8152/RTL8153 USB to Ethernet controller driver. plug a lil USB ethernet dongle in, this driver is the one making it go brrr. let's get into it 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

ure — the RealTek RTL8152/RTL8153 USB to Ethernet controller driver. that's the whole vibe. it drives USB ethernet. iconic behavior honestly 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ok so you've got two paths here, and you gotta pick one depending on how you want this driver to show up. main character energy either way 🎀

💜 option one: bake it into the kernel

if you want this driver compiled into the kernel, bestie, you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device miibus
device uether
device ure

yes you need all of them. the whole little support squad has to come along. no skipping 🫶

💜 option two: load it as a module at boot

orrr, if you'd rather load the driver as a module at boot time, you put this single line into loader.conf(5):

if_ure_load="YES"

one line. that's it. slay ✨

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

ok so here's the lore. the ure driver provides support for USB Ethernet adapters based on the RealTek RealTek RTL8152 and RTL8153 USB Ethernet controllers.

and now the speed situation, because not all NICs are built the same and we respect that:

  • NICs based on the RTL8152 are capable of 10 and 100Mbps speeds.
  • NICs based on the RTL8153 are capable of 10, 100 and 1000Mbps operation.

so like. one is your lil cozy guy, the other one is doing cardio 🏃♀️💨

💫 media types

the ure driver supports the following media types, bestie — memorize them, there will be a vibe check:

  • autoselect — enables auto selection of the media type and options. the user can manually override the auto selected mode by adding media options to the /etc/rc.conf file.
  • 10baseT/UTP — sets 10Mbps operation. the mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.
  • 100baseTX — sets 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation. the mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.
  • 1000baseTX — sets 1000baseTX operation over twisted pair. the RealTek gigE chips support 1000Mbps in full-duplex mode only.
⚠️ real talk: for 1000baseTX, the RealTek gigE chips do 1000Mbps in full-duplex mode only. no half-duplex gigabit, it's just not happening, don't ask 💀

💫 media options

and the ure driver supports the following media options too:

  • full-duplex</... wait no, let me fix that — full-duplex — force full duplex operation.
  • half-duplex — force half duplex operation.

for more info on configuring this device, go peek at ifconfig(8). it's giving helpful bestie behavior 🫶

😭 DIAGNOSTICS 😭

  • ure%d: watchdog timeout — a packet was queued for transmission and a transmit command was issued, however the device failed to acknowledge the transmission before a timeout expired.

translation: you asked it to send something, it said nothing back, and the clock ran out. awkward. the device just ghosted you 🙈

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

go read these too, they're all part of the friend group:

🎀 AUTHORS 🎀

the ure driver was written by Kevin Lo <kevlo@FreeBSD.org>. give them their flowers, they earned them 💐

and that's the whole page, bestie! this one came from Debian, dated October 31, 2016 — so yeah, spooky-season energy, but make it networking 🎃🔌. now go forth and plug in that USB ethernet adapter, you absolute icon 💖✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from