Re: Newbie

On Mon, 3 Feb 2003, Venkat Raghu wrote:

> I am a student and new to linux kernel. Please help me
> out by:
> 1) Just giving me some basic architecture of eepro 
> driver.

The network stack is a pretty complicated system that requires knowing
about multiple levels (bus operation, network frame formats, OS
principles, protocols, and more) before any of it makes sense.
You would be better off with a starting with simpler, better-documented
Ethernet NIC.  The VIA Rhine chip is one simplest.

> 2)In function "speedo_found1", it is reading values
> using "do_eeprom_cmd" and then updating using 
> "mdio_write". So what exactly it is trying to do??
> What is eeprom here, where is it situated physically.

The configuration EEPROM holds the station address and
information about the specific board design.  It's easy to spot -- a
small 8 pin chip that is the one of the few chips on the board.

The other significant device on the board is the "magnetics" (multiple
transformers in a single package).  It's a thick device that sometimes
confused for a very big chip.

The tiny devices on the board are resistors, capacitors, and perhaps a
power transistor for switching stand-by power when using Wake-On-LAN.

-- 
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