[GTALUG] PC build recommendation

[Alex Volkov]

Hugh,

I think I mostly prefer to stick to Intel drivers for what now is 
considered legacy reasons, right now I'm working on a computer that's 
got RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet and it's works just fine.

But five to ten years ago I remember Linux and OpenBSD developers going 
on a rant about how bad and unpredictable Realtek gigabit chips were, 
whereas Intel were paying people to work on e1000 drivers in the kernel.
I still have dual e1000 PCI cards laying around sever that I can pop in 
a computer at any moment and know that they would work.

When it comes to wireless, I still remember the pain of trying to 
configure rtl 81xx or even worse, set up ndiswrapper for broadcom chip.  
After that I started buying laptops that have Intel wireless chips in 
them and suddenly I stopped needing to think about configuring wifi.

I guess when I see a network card that isn't based on intel, I shrug and 
think to myself -- "oh, it's gonna stop working in the next kernel upgrade".

Alex.

On 2018-02-28 01:25 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | From: Lennart Sorensen via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
>
> | Looking at their drivers, the ones I checked were all intel wifi and
> | realtek gigabit.
>
> My zboxes use Realtek gigabit ethernet.
>
> I know that those in the know prefer Intel but I'm not up to speed on
> why.
>
> I'll give you a why not: Intel ethernet seems to collude with Intel
> Management Engine to provide "lights out management".  This works
> without involving the main processor and thus without involving your
> system's own firewall.  In other words, you have a big gaping security
> hole that is very hard to plug (or even assess).
>
> Many years ago, DEC Tulip ethernet chips were considered a Good Thing.
> I think that Realtek's ethernet chips are descendants.
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