Intel ATOM D945GCLF onboard LAN driver-card problem
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Thank you David_W for quick reply.
eth0 is onboard card the other one is eth1. They both work under Linux.They are both based on Realtek chipset (other one is Level One FNC-0109tx). I will love to post dmesg from Pfsense or freebsd 6.3, but I cant complete instalation (the computer halts in the middle becouse iI dont have 2 lan cards or ports). I will try installing wlan card.The other alternative is dual port NIC. (I must see if I can put this card in PCI slot, becouse I have very small case)
Regards
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You don't need two NICs for FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE - just download and boot the FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE i386 disc 1 ISO. That may be a way ahead to get the dmesg and pciconf -lv output.
You've now confirmed that the built in NIC is detected using the Realtek 8169s/8110s driver in Linux and that that card works in Linux. That may be a start towards a solution here - the information I asked for will help reveal more of the picture.
I can't promise to offer a fix; I have other things to be getting on with, but getting this information together is going to help whoever eventually does fix this.
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here is dmesg from freebsd 6.3:
Copyright
1992-2008 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE #0: Wed Jan 16 04:45:45 UTC 2008
root@dessler.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/SMP
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 230 @ 1.60GHz (1599.32-MHz 686-class CPU)
Origin = "GenuineIntel" Id = 0x106c2 Stepping = 2
Features=0xbfe9fbff <fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>Features2=0x40e31d<sse3,rsvd2,mon,ds_cpl,tm2,ssse3,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,<b22>>
AMD Features=0x20100000 <nx,lm>AMD Features2=0x1 <lahf>Logical CPUs per core: 2
real memory = 1063649280 (1014 MB)
avail memory = 1027358720 (979 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <intel d945glf="">FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 2
ioapic0 <version 2.0="">irqs 0-23 on motherboard
kbd1 at kbdmux0
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
hptrr: HPT RocketRAID controller driver v1.1 (Jan 16 2008 04:43:12)
acpi0: <intel d945glf="">on motherboard
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x408-0x40b on acpi0
cpu0: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
cpu1: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
acpi_button0: <sleep button="">on acpi0
pcib0: <acpi host-pci="" bridge="">port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib0
agp0: <intel 82945g="" (945g="" gmch)="" svga="" controller="">port 0x30e0-0x30e7 mem 0x50300000-0x5037ffff,0x40000000-0x4fffffff,0x50380000-0x503bffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
agp0: detected 7932k stolen memory
agp0: aperture size is 256M
pcib1: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">at device 28.0 on pci0
pci1: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib1
pci1: <network, ethernet="">at device 0.0 (no driver attached)
pcib2: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">at device 28.2 on pci0
pci2: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib2
pcib3: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">at device 28.3 on pci0
pci3: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib3
uhci0: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x3080-0x309f irq 23 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb0: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x3060-0x307f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb1: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x3040-0x305f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb2: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci3: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x3020-0x303f irq 16 at device 29.3 on pci0
uhci3: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb3: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci3
usb3: USB revision 1.0
uhub3: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <intel 82801gb="" r="" (ich7)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">mem 0x503c0000-0x503c03ff irq 23 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb4: EHCI version 1.0
usb4: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2 usb3
usb4: <intel 82801gb="" r="" (ich7)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">on ehci0
usb4: USB revision 2.0
uhub4: Intel EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub4: 8 ports with 8 removable, self powered
pcib4: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">at device 30.0 on pci0
pci4: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib4
rl0: <realtek 10="" 8139="" 100basetx="">port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0x50100000-0x501000ff irq 21 at device 0.0 on pci4
miibus0: <mii bus="">on rl0
rlphy0: <realtek internal="" media="" interface="">on miibus0
rlphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
rl0: Ethernet address: 00:11:6b:95:f9:d7
isab0: <pci-isa bridge="">at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <isa bus="">on isab0
atapci0: <intel ich7="" udma100="" controller="">port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0x30b0-0x30bf irq 18 at device 31.1 on pci0
ata0: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci0
ata1: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci0
atapci1: <intel ich7="" sata300="" controller="">port 0x30c8-0x30cf,0x30ec-0x30ef,0x30c0-0x30c7,0x30e8-0x30eb,0x30a0-0x30af irq 19 at device 31.2 on pci0
ata2: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci1
ata3: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci1
pci0: <serial bus,="" smbus="">at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
atkbdc0: <keyboard controller="" (i8042)="">port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <at keyboard="">irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: <ps 2="" mouse="">irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: model IntelliMouse, device ID 3
pmtimer0 on isa0
ppc0: parallel port not found.
sc0: <system console="">at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0
sio0: type 8250 or not responding
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
vga0: <generic isa="" vga="">at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
umass0: Generic USB Flash Disk, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
hptrr: no controller detected.
ad0: FAILURE - SET_MULTI status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4 <aborted>ad0: 499MB <innodisk 18="" corp.="" -="" edc4000="" 512mb="" 06="" 05="">at ata0-master UDMA66
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
da0: <generic usb="" flash="" disk="" 2.01="">Removable Direct Access SCSI-2 device
da0: 1.000MB/s transfers
da0: 127MB (260288 512 byte sectors: 64H 32S/T 127C)
acd0: DVDROM <tsstcorpdvd-rom sh-d163b="" sb01="">at ata3-master SATA150
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a</tsstcorpdvd-rom></generic></innodisk></aborted></ready,dsc,error></generic></system></ps></at></keyboard></serial></ata></ata></intel></ata></ata></intel></isa></pci-isa></realtek></mii></realtek></acpi></acpi></intel></intel></uhci></uhci></uhci></uhci></uhci></uhci></uhci></uhci></acpi></acpi></acpi></acpi></network,></acpi></acpi></intel></acpi></acpi></sleep></acpi></acpi></intel></version></intel ></lahf></nx,lm></sse3,rsvd2,mon,ds_cpl,tm2,ssse3,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,<b22></fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe> -
pci1: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib1
pci1: <network, ethernet="">at device 0.0 (no driver attached)</network,></acpi>That's the Realtek card. Can you post the output of pciconf -lv as that will give the device ID. Without that, there's no way to try to create a driver.
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Here you have it:
hostb0@pci0:0:0: class=0x060000 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27708086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82945G/GZ/P/PL Host Bridge/DRAM Controller'
class = bridge
subclass = HOST-PCI
agp0@pci0:2:0: class=0x030000 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27728086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82945G Integrated Graphics Controller'
class = display
subclass = VGA
pcib1@pci0:28:0: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x27d08086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) PCIe Root Port'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
pcib2@pci0:28:2: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x27d48086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) PCIe Root Port'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:28:3: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x27d68086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) PCIe Root Port'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
uhci0@pci0:29:0: class=0x0c0300 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27c88086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci1@pci0:29:1: class=0x0c0300 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27c98086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci2@pci0:29:2: class=0x0c0300 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27ca8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci3@pci0:29:3: class=0x0c0300 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27cb8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
ehci0@pci0:29:7: class=0x0c0320 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27cc8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
pcib4@pci0:30:0: class=0x060401 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x244e8086 rev=0xe1 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801 Family (ICH2/3/4/4/5/5/6/7/8/9,63xxESB) Hub Interface to PCI Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:31:0: class=0x060100 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27b88086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '945GL Intel 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Controller - 27B8'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:31:1: class=0x01018a card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27df8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) Ultra ATA Storage Controller'
class = mass storage
subclass = ATA
atapci1@pci0:31:2: class=0x01018f card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27c08086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller'
class = mass storage
subclass = ATA
none0@pci0:31:3: class=0x0c0500 card=0x464c8086 chip=0x27da8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = SMBus
none1@pci1:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x00018086 chip=0x813610ec rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Realtek Semiconductor'
device = 'RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC'
class = network
subclass = ethernet
rl0@pci4:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x813910ec chip=0x813910ec rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Realtek Semiconductor'
device = 'RT8139 (A/B/C/810x/813x/C+) Fast Ethernet Adapter'
class = network
subclass = ethernet -
none1@pci1:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x00018086 chip=0x813610ec rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Realtek Semiconductor'
device = 'RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC'
class = network
subclass = ethernetThat's the device we're trying to support.
The Intel vendor ID always amuses me - note that the low word of 'card', the subvendor ID, is 0x8086.
'Chip' is the more important value - the low word is 0x10ec, which is Realtek. The high word is 0x8136 - Realtek 8101E alike. The re(4) driver already has support for the Realtek 8101E.
Looking at if_re.c, I can only surmise that the driver is trying to attach to this NIC expecting a Realtek 8101E, but discovers that it's a different hardware revision to one it expects for the 8101E, so it doesn't attach to the chip. After all, 8102E is not 8101E! Hopefully someone can get hold of the necessary programming documentation to add support for the NIC that is on this Intel board.
I have had a quick glance at the Linux driver, but it didn't help me understand what was happening. I'm not familiar with Linux drivers, and the driver API is somewhat different to FreeBSD.
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David_W thank you for your reply.
I tried installing Freebsd 7.0 but no luck…
I also searched on Google and I find that a lot of people have problem with this onboard LAN.. but I am new in Freebsd so I can do much to help them... so I must be patient and wait... hopefully this will be resolved quickly.
If I can do something to help....
Regards
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Any news on this subject?
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As others have said, the driver needs to be in FreeBSD before you'll get anywhere. You may find that you need to raise this on the freebsd-net mailing list (and if you really want it to work, you may have to donate a working card/motherboard to a developer).
One thing to keep in mind, new drivers tend to appear in HEAD, which is 8.0. Some may be back-ported to 7.x but few are likely to be back-ported to 6.x.
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The problem is in network card RTL8102E. I downloaded freebsd drivers from http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=7&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
instaled freebsd 6.2 , compiled if_rl.ko driver, put it /boot/kernel/if_rl.ko and in /boot/defaults/loader.conf change if_rl_load="NO" to "YES"
my dmesg:
rl0: <realtek rtl810xe="" pci-e="" fast="" ethernet="" adapter="">port 0x2000-0x20ff mem 0x50200000-0x50200fff,0x50000000-0x5000ffff irq 11 at device 0.0 on pci1
rl0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
version:1.76 beta1</realtek> -
Does that mean this is working now?
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In a word - no.
Unfortunately Realtek's driver is forked from an ancient version of if_rl.c - by ancient I mean six years old and on the FreeBSD 4.x branch. There's no straightforward way of porting their changes back to FreeBSD HEAD, 7-STABLE and 6-STABLE, which is the only way these changes are going to make it into FreeBSD proper.
Maybe Realtek have taken objection to the comment in the driver that the 8139 is possibly the worst PCI Ethernet NIC ever made (with one exception). Their version has deleted that comment. To see what I mean, look here, fairly near the top.
Realtek's code updates the PIO based rl(4) driver, not the DMA based re(4) driver, which is where you really want support. Further, the dmesg extract mindziux posted shows that Realtek's driver is under the Giant lock. Both these will hurt performance badly.
Networking drivers that need the Giant lock will not be committed to FreeBSD HEAD; a process is underway at the moment to get the remaining networking drivers out from under the Giant lock. Those drivers that do not get updated will be deleted. See recent posts by Robert Watson to freebsd-stable for more details.
It would have been so much better if Realtek worked with the FreeBSD developers to get their patches incorporated into the operating system, as other vendors do (including Broadcom and Intel for network drivers, and LSI Logic for storage drivers). The ancient code base of their driver means it's reaching the end of the line, as the networking code in 7.x and HEAD is very different to the 4.x base of Realtek's driver.
If you are desperate to get things working, follow mindzuix's steps, but the performance will be suspect at best. I would suggest not using this NIC at all - use an Intel Gigabit NIC in the PCI slot. It's a huge shame that Intel used this cheap Realtek NIC rather than one of their own NICs on this board; the Realtek NIC is just about OK as a desktop NIC, but I believe is a poor choice for a server or firewall NIC.
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Hi to all the Atom fan's here who are struggling with their RTL8101E (or is it a RTL8102E) nic.
I received my D945GCLF last week but it wasn't until last weekend that I got to play with it. Unfortunately the amount of play regarding the network capabilities was small. The problems described in the posting before me have plagued me too. Other linux distro's, I have tried SuSe, Ubuntu, Knoppix on the board result in the same non responsive NIC.
lspci -v -n on a SuSe install tells me:
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0001]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 220
I/O ports at 2000 Memory at 88200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)
Memory at 88000000 (64-bit, prefetchable)
Expansion ROM at 88020000 [disabled]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable+
Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 01
Capabilities: [ac] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=2
Capabilities: [cc] Vital Product Data
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169It seems SuSe loads another kernel module, with mixed results. 8 out of 10 reboots the nic stay dead. Switching from manual IP to dhcp only results in the dhcp request being backgrounded (and eventually resulting in no IP being received). Not that superb if you'r thinking of using the Atom board as a router/home server. Unfortunately I had to reinstate my old Epia M10K as a router and stuck an Intel 1000GT in the one PCI Slot on the D945GCLF. After that the RTL nic get's properly activated as well (receives an IP through dhcp) and is willing to work. If I removed the Intel nic, I am back at the lottery.
I have emailed RealTek about the problems but so far little good advise (.. update linux driver) or maintaining a dual boot with XP and enable WOL from the windows driver (not an option for a linux only server).
Even though the replies have been rather gloomy I do hope for a driver update with normal support for the 8101/2E so I can eclaim the Gbit nic from the Atom box.
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Pantagruel, as others have said, many times and in this thread, pfSense is based on FreeBSD, FreeBSD is not Linux. Getting it working under Linux doesn't really help.
Nice to know that it's as broken under Linux as FreeBSD though ;)
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@Cry:
.. FreeBSD is not Linux. Getting it working under Linux doesn't really help.
Nice to know that it's as broken under Linux as FreeBSD though ;)
I know but it's a small step from a solution regarding freebsd to solving it for linux (or vice versa)
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Sounds like we're just going to have to wait for intel to update this board or use PCI. I was disapointed it wasn't gigabit anyway but it still would have been nice to use as a wan port.
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RealTek mailed me about changing/upgrading the driver.
Drivers can be found at:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=2&PNid=14&PFid=7&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
Perhaps this will be of any help to you as well. I'll go and wreck my install later this evening.
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RealTek mailed me about changing/upgrading the driver.
I've already dealt with this; I spent quite a bit of time investigating the situation a few days ago.
There's almost zero, nothing, zilch, nada in common between the Linux and FreeBSD drivers, Pantagruel - it's not a small step for solving the problem on one kernel to solving it on another when there's no common code. Sometimes code reading the drivers for Linux helps when writing FreeBSD drivers, especially if you're after a small tweak to support a new variant of a device on FreeBSD that is already supported on Linux.
In this case, I can't see anything in the Linux kernel that will help in supporting this NIC in the FreeBSD re(4) driver. I'm not an expert on FreeBSD device drivers, but I am pretty familiar with FreeBSD in general and I am a competent C programmer. If you've got at least some familiarity with C, by all means compare the if_re.c file in FreeBSD (in src/sys/dev/re) with the Realtek driver in the Linux kernel.
Realtek's driver for FreeBSD apparently works, but it's utterly horrible. It's based on 6 year old FreeBSD code which is PIO based (so no DMA, which means horrible I/O performance) and is under the Giant lock (so no threading - not that this is a surprise for code based on the non-SMP FreeBSD 4.x). Because of the ancient revision Realtek have forked from, it would be very hard to backport the changes to a modern version of the rl(4) driver, let alone the re(4) driver, which is where you want support.
Realtek could have chosen to work with the FreeBSD developers on getting their hardware supported properly - other companies such as Intel, Broadcom and LSI Logic have done so.
I expect that the built in NIC on the Atom board will be supported eventually - there's likely to be a lot of these boards, so someone is going to be interested in doing the work. Finding an interested FreeBSD developer and offering them hardware or money is likely to get this work done sooner, though it still relies on finding (or obtaining) programming details from Realtek. The datasheets that are publicly available don't have the programming details necessary.
Even if you did get the built in NIC working, Realtek NICs are far from brilliant - search the forum for Realtek for the issues that people are experiencing. It's a cheap 10/100 desktop NIC. For a firewall, I'd put an Intel Gigabit NIC in the PCI slot and have done - even a cheap Intel Gigabit desktop NIC would be very much better than this Realtek device.
I think there's only single port desktop NICs, but if you have a switch that supports VLANs (which work fine with the single port Intel 1000/GT PCI desktop adapter), you only need a single NIC for pfSense.
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There's some work going on to support this card now - see the posts of the last few days in freebsd-stable (the thread starts here (click)). Basic support has been managed, but doesn't appear to be in a state to be committed yet. The more complex features of the chip are proving more troublesome, because the 8102E is different to the 8101E.
Hopefully this will turn into something that gets committed to FreeBSD HEAD, then MFCed to 7-STABLE. I'm not so sure any patch will be made to 6-STABLE, but now that pfSense 1.2.1 looks as if it will be based around FreeBSD 7, hopefully that won't be an issue.
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There appears to be a tweak in HEAD related to this device as of half a day ago.
http://freshbsd.org/2008/07/09/01/58/18
No code changes, just PCI device IDs as far as I can see, so I'm not sure how much it will actually affect.
