Comments on some peripherals under NetBSD

NetBSD Peripherals

Today's market of add-on devices for PCs, even portable ones, is large. Devices range from PCMCIA cards via all sort of USB devices, external mice, keyboards and other input devices to printers, modems and monitors. While we can not test every device, this page is intended to list some tested devices, and special advice, if needed. Please note that similar devices using the same chipset are likely to work fine too.

1 Recommended BIOS Settings

Properly working peripherals do not only depend on drivers and the peripherals, but also on some settings in the machines' BIOS. Here are some settings that you will probably want to check if you experience problems:

The PC Card Controller Mode is set best to "CardBus/16 bit" to get properly working PCMCIA and CardBus support.
To use modem cards (which act as serial devices), turn the "Serial" and "Build-in modem" settings to "Not used" in the "I/O Ports" settings.
LCD Display Stretch should be disabled in the DISPLAY settings to avoid some Xfree86 X servers getting confused.
It may be necessary to set USB-FDD Legacy Emulation to "Disabled" to get some USB mass storage devices working.

2 Modem Devices

Optegra Global PC Card Modem GDM: supported since NetBSD 1.4.1.
Be sure to disable the internal COM port and modem (if available in your model) for this to work.
Elsa MicroLink 56k USB: works since NetBSD 1.5. Use /dev/ttyU* as the device for kpppd, pppd etc.
3C562D/3C563D based EtherLink III LAN+Modem PC Card: works since NetBSD 1.4.
See below for some hints!
Xircom CEM56-100: both modem and ethernet DO NOT work under NetBSD 1.5.
Xircom RBEM56G-100: both modem and ethernet work under NetBSD 1.5.
Xircom REM56G-100 RealPort Ethernet 10/100+Modem 56: both modem and ethernet DO NOT work under NetBSD 1.5.

3 Ethernet cards

Satellite 35D onboard Accton EN2242 MiniPCI 10/100 Fast Ethernet: NetBSD 1.5 does not contain a driver for the Satellite 35D onboard Accton EN2242 MiniPCI ethernet card. Patches are available for NetBSD 1.5 and NetBSD-current as of Dec 24th 2000.
LinkPro TL-5200 PCMCIA Ethernet PC Card (10MBd, BNC & STP): supported since NetBSD 1.4.1.
recognized as ne0.
3c589 based network cards (PCMCIA): works since NetBSD 1.5.
3C562D/3C563D based EtherLink III LAN+Modem PC Card: works since NetBSD 1.4.
Note that only the LAN or modem card should be used at a time, not both. Else the system may hang. In any case, you'll need the following options in your kernel config file:
```
options         PCIC_ISA_ALLOC_IOBASE=0x400
options         PCIC_ISA_ALLOC_IOSIZE=0x100
options         PCIC_ISA_INTR_ALLOC_MASK=0x04b8
```
3COM HomeConnect Ethernet USB Adapter (3C460): Works fine under NetBSD 1.4T as of 2000/02/29 on a Satellite 2640XDVD (which contains the Intel uhci UCB chip that Toshiba will use in future machines). Does NOT work on a Satellite 2140XCDS (which contains the NEC ohci UCB chip).
Transmit rates are about 250kb/s for FTP.
3COM 3c575B-TX Ethernet PC-Card (Model 3CCFE575BT-D): works fine under NetBSD 1.4Y as of 2000/05/25. This card is sold as "Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-TX by 3Com Parallel Tasking PC Card).
Do not try to suspend/resume the machine while that card is in, though, as the drivers still lacks the necessary power mangement.
3COM Megahertz 3c574-Tx 10/100 LAN PC Card (Model 3CCFE574BT): Works under NetBSD 1.5. Recognized as "ep" card, with "tqphy".
Xircom CEM56-100: both modem and ethernet DO NOT work under NetBSD 1.5.
Xircom RBEM56G-100: both modem and ethernet work under NetBSD 1.5.
Xircom REM56G-100 RealPort Ethernet 10/100+Modem 56: both modem and ethernet DO NOT work under NetBSD 1.5.

4 Wireless LAN equipment

Lucent WaveLAN Bronze Turbo wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) card: supported since NetBSD 1.5.
Need to set options PCIC_ISA_ALLOC_IOBASE=0x400 and options PCIC_ISA_ALLOC_IOSIZE=0x40 in the kernel config file for the card to be recognized properly, and use wiconfig -i wi0 -p 1 to put the card into the right mode.
Lucent WaveLAN Silver Turbo wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) card: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
In /etc/rc.local, running "wiconfig wi0 -p 1 -t 11 -s myname -P0 -n netid" and "ifconfig wi0 nwid netid" were necessary (before running dhclient!). The netid must match the base station's setting for "WLAN Service Area".
ELSA AirLancer MC-11 wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) card: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
See "Lucent WaveLAN Silver Turbo" for configuration hints.
ELSA AirLancer MC-2 wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) card: does NOT work with NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
Noname 11MBps PCMCIA Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) Adapter (Model XI300): does NOT work with NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
3Com AirConnect Base Station (IEEE 802.11): The serial console runs at 19200 baud, 8N1. Be sure to pass value of "WLAN Service Area" (Access Point Install menu) to both "wiconfig -n" and "ifconfig nwid", see above.

5 Docking Stations

DeskStation III docking station: works since NetBSD 1.4.
This docking station includes a 3c574-TX based network card.
DeskStation V docking station: works since NetBSD 1.4.
This docking station includes a 3c509 based network card and SCSI. You'll need to restart X when docking the computer when going from internal to external monitor.
Docking station Tecra 8100: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5_ALPHA2.
The network card is recognized as "ex0", the USB hub works fine with USB keyboard and mice.
PCI Expansion box for Tecra 8100 docking station: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5_ALPHA2.
The PCI bus in the machine is found as well as the wdc ATAPI controller with it's primary and secondary channels.
Docking station for Portege 3440CT: tested and found fully working with NetBSD 1.5_BETA2
USB, ethernet (fxp0) and DVD were found working.

6 Miscellaneous devices

Logitech USB Wheel Mouse: works since 1.4P.
Adaptec 1460 SlimSCSI 16-bit PCMCIA-to-SCSI adapter: works fine since NetBSD 1.4P.
Just don't forget to (re-)enable all the SCSI devices in your custom kernel. ;-)
Microsoft Digital Sound System 80: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.4Z.
Just plug in and fire up mpg123 or whatever. You'll have to use mixerctl(8) (mixerctl -w fea8-i7-master=xx,xx) for controlling the volume, though.
Datacomp 3D Speaker (USB): tested and found working with NetBSD 1.4ZA.
Use the fea2-i1-master mixerctl(1) setting to change volume.
Cherry USB Keyboard with builtin 4-way USB hub (model: MY3000 USB 4A): tested and found working with NetBSD 1.4ZA.
Be sure to have "mux 1" enabled in your /etc/wscons.conf, to use the USB and the notebook's keyboard at the same time.
SelectBay CD-RW 4420: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5_ALPHA2.
Attaches as "cd0" to internal ATAPI bus, can be (re)written with cdrecord.
Toshiba TLP650E data projector: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5, using a resolution or 1024x768. The projector is connected to the notebook's normal monitor (VGA) output.
Toshiba USB FDD Kit Floppy: tested and found working with NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
Booting from disk works fine, may need USB-FDD Legacy Emulation in BIOS set to Enabled, though.
Callon 260MB and 1GB PCMCIA harddisks: tested and found working under NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
Recognized as wd1, disklabel and mount as usual.
DN-Boy external disk with Skymaster PCMCIA IDE adapter: tested and found working under NetBSD 1.5_BETA2.
Recognized as wd1, disklabel and mount as usual.