Re: about usb3 <> ethernet adapters for raspberry pi 5

On Fri, May 22, 2026 at 11:33:48PM -0700, Mark Millard wrote:

># usbconfig -l -d ugen0.2
>ugen0.2: <RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Realtek Semiconductor Corp.>
>at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=SUPER (5.0Gbps) pwr=ON (72mA)

$ doas lsusb
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.3: ID 0b95:1790 ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet

$ doas usbconfig -l -d ugen0.3
ugen0.3: <AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet ASIX Electronics Corp.> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=SUPER (5.0Gbps) pwr=ON (46mA)

The file /usr/local/share/usbids/usb.ids has a list of all known usb ids

$ ug AX88179 /usr/local/share/usbids/usb.ids
  12338:		0a13  AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet [Toshiba]
  13684:		1790  AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet
  15310:		0072  AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet [Sitecom]
  19449:		304b  AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet [ThinkPad OneLink GigaLAN]

dmesg has this:

axge0: <ASIX AX88179B, class 0/0, rev 3.20/2.00, addr 2> on usbus0
                    ^^ the B variant

># iperf3 -c 192.168.1.195 --get-server-output
>Connecting to host 192.168.1.195, port 5201
>[ ID] Interval       Transfer    Bitrate       Retr
>[  5] 0.00-10.03 sec 1.10 GBytes 940 Mbits/sec 50   sender
>[  5] 0.00-10.03 sec 1.10 GBytes 940 Mbits/sec      receiver

$ iperf3 -c 192.168.1.230 --time 60 --get-server-output
(I used time 60 to get a better average incase throughput was spiky)

[ ID] Interval       Transfer    Bitrate       Retr
[  5] 0.00-60.03 sec 1.55 GBytes 222 Mbits/sec 1595 sender
[  5] 0.00-60.03 sec 1.55 GBytes 222 Mbits/sec      receiver

$ doas ifconfig ue0 -lro -tso
$ iperf3 -c 192.168.1.230 --time 60 --get-server-output

[ ID] Interval       Transfer    Bitrate       Retr
[  5] 0.00-60.04 sec 2.16 GBytes 309 Mbits/sec 1936 sender
[  5] 0.00-60.04 sec 2.16 GBytes 309 Mbits/sec      receiver

Had a read around the problem.

 From here: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D56985 I found
https://reviews.freebsd.org/D55631 grabbed a diff and applied it
(make buildworld buildkernel etc)

Now:

[ ID] Interval       Transfer    Bitrate       Retr
[  5] 0.00-60.05 sec 3.37 GBytes 483 Mbits/sec 24795 sender
[  5] 0.00-60.05 sec 3.37 GBytes 483 Mbits/sec       receiver

If:

$ doas ifconfig ue0 -lro -tso

[ ID] Interval       Transfer    Bitrate       Retr
[  5] 0.00-60.00 sec 1.26 GBytes 180 Mbits/sec 7     sender
[  5] 0.00-60.00 sec 1.26 GBytes 180 Mbits/sec       receiver

which is the reverse (-lro -tso was faster) from before the patch
was applied. It's a bit faster with lro tso now but still half of 
line speed.

I'm worried about the retries and the fact that this chip is AX88179B
not AX88179A nor AX88179
--