Hi Cyrill,

 CV> Latest 3C90x still very buggy. I can use them only under wynndoze.

I am using several 3C905B UTP cards under Warp 3 and Warp 4. Installation was
very simple and painless -
  1. Power off machine.
  2. Plug card into an empty PCI slot.
  3. Power up BIOS check reports a card found in the slot.
  4. From MPTS - Adapter and Protocol Configuration I selected "Other
Adapters", which I then pointed to the 3Com Floppy image I had on the HD
containing the OS/2 drivers for my card and loaded the appropriate driver. I
then selected the correct Network Adapter type from the list (3com Fast
Etherlink/Etherlink XL Family OS/2), added the required protocols, saved the
setup, exited MPTS.
  4. Shutdown/Re-boot of OS/2.
  5. On Boot up, card found, driver loaded, protocols loaded, all ok.

This was in March 99 and all 3C905B cards have run fine using the Feb 99
Drivers since that date. Couldn't have been simpler, no addressing/IRQ issues, 
a completely smooth and painless operation.

 CV>     So, nonamed, dusty NE2000-compatible can give you 
 CV> more stability and speed than sophisticated brandname.

Actually I have to disagree with this. Prior to using the 3C905B's, I used
(and still have 1 running) some NE2000 ISA cards. I HAD to load RESERVE.SYS to 
prevent OS/2 install lockups with the default I/O address because the default
conflicted with my Adaptec SCSI card at 0x300. Once I reconfigured the NE2000
to 0x360 and modified the .NIF accordingly, the NE2000's have been fairly
painless. However I do note that the 3Com performance is better than the
NE2000, and the CPU utilisation is MUCH lower on the 3Com than the NE2000. The 
3Com's are about 4 times the price of an NE2000, but I still prefer the
simpler installation and better performance.

Regards............pk.


--- Maximus/2 3.01