Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    No-name/generic USB Ethernet. Will they work with 1.2.3?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    13 Posts 6 Posters 6.5k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • S
      stramato
      last edited by

      are there cheap 5-port VLAN capable switches out there?

      hopefully cheaper than 2x dual port LAN cards, or 1 quad port.

      I don't really need the speed, since the DSL line is just 4Mbps tops. So even if it's 12Mbps USB 1.1 it's ok, as long as it functions…

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • W
        wallabybob
        last edited by

        @stramato:

        are there cheap 5-port VLAN capable switches out there?

        There are some hints in this thread: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,27266.0.html

        @stramato:

        will something like this work with FreeBSD pfSense 1.2.3?
        http://cgi.ebay.ph/USB-LAN-RJ45-Ethernet-10-100-MBPS-Network-Adapter-/270508484037

        Don't really care about it's speed. Since my WAN's are just 4Mbps down / 0.5Mbps up DSL

        Maybe a couple of years ago I bought a few devices that look like that and had a similar description. They were all some variant of the Davicom 9601. Some of them worked fine with the udav driver but others required a driver patch to work because the USB IDs were reversed compared with what the driver expected. All of them seem to work with pfSense 2.0 BETA. I've used them on WAN links because my WAN bandwidth is a little bit higher than yours so the 12Mbps USB speed is probably not a serious brake on my download speeds. They seem to have worked reasonably well but, if I had the PCI slots, I'd have used one or more dual port 10/100 PCI cards. I have bought a few dual 10/100 PCI cards on eBay.

        There would seem to be at least a couple of different chipsets used in devices like that. Can you check the USB product ID and Vendor ID to make sure the device is supported by FreeBSD?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • jimpJ
          jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
          last edited by

          I have a Netgear GS108T and it works quite well:

          http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122203&cm_re=gs-108t--33-122-203--Product

          At around $100 it's good for an 8-port gigabit switch that does VLANs.

          Though you could find cheaper used switches on eBay with more ports, they'd likely be 10/100, which may not matter since you are using it for multi-wan.

          Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

          Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

          Do not Chat/PM for help!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • C
            CaseyBlackburn
            last edited by

            I use one of these for my network. No complaints with it for what I'm doing.

            http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?rt=nc&_nkw=dell+2724&_dmpt=COMP_EN_Hubs

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              stramato
              last edited by

              @wallabybob:

              Maybe a couple of years ago I bought a few devices that look like that and had a similar description. They were all some variant of the Davicom 9601. Some of them worked fine with the udav driver but others required a driver patch to work because the USB IDs were reversed compared with what the driver expected. All of them seem to work with pfSense 2.0 BETA. I've used them on WAN links because my WAN bandwidth is a little bit higher than yours so the 12Mbps USB speed is probably not a serious brake on my download speeds. They seem to have worked reasonably well but, if I had the PCI slots, I'd have used one or more dual port 10/100 PCI cards. I have bought a few dual 10/100 PCI cards on eBay.

              There would seem to be at least a couple of different chipsets used in devices like that. Can you check the USB product ID and Vendor ID to make sure the device is supported by FreeBSD?

              It's SUPEREAL SR9600 according to windows. And I read somewhere that this is indeed a variant of the Davicom 9601, and that the source for the driver should be modified a bit and recompiled before the Davicom 9601 can be used for it. Can this be done in FreeBSD pfSense?

              Does this work by default using Beta 2.0?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • W
                wallabybob
                last edited by

                @stramato:

                It's SUPEREAL SR9600 according to windows. And I read somewhere that this is indeed a variant of the Davicom 9601, and that the source for the driver should be modified a bit and recompiled before the Davicom 9601 can be used for it. Can this be done in FreeBSD pfSense?

                The operating system component of pfSense is built from source code. If I recall correctly, my single experience of a similar sort of situation was that the pfSense developers were reluctant to change the device driver ID table ahead of FreeBSD and the FreeBSD developers were reluctant to put the change anywhere other than their main line code which meant that because the patch was submitted after FreeBSD 7.0 it didn't make it a release until FreeBSD 8.0. Maybe if I had agitated a bit more the patch might have been included in the FreeBSD 7.1 release.

                @stramato:

                Does this work by default using Beta 2.0?

                Probably not, but you won't know for certain until you try it.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  stramato
                  last edited by

                  Just tried it with Beta 2.0 a while ago. Didn't work.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • W
                    wallabybob
                    last edited by

                    @stramato:

                    Just tried it with Beta 2.0 a while ago. Didn't work.

                    It would be helpful to know in what way it didn't work. Please provide the console output when you plugged in the device and the output from the shell command:

                    usbconfig dump_device_desc

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      stramato
                      last edited by

                      I returned it to the store where I bought it and swapped it with an HDMI cable instead hehe.

                      Anyway, it is detected as "ugen1.2" depending on which USB port I plug it it ("ugen0.1", "ugen0.2", etc.).

                      I dont remember the exact line that appears when I connect/disconnect it, but it's something like this:

                      ugen1.2 ( <some hex="" values="">USB Ethernet Network Controller) on usb1.2 has been</some>

                      it won't appear on the valid network interfaces.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • W
                        wallabybob
                        last edited by

                        That's what I expected had happened (no driver wants to claim the device). Thanks for the additional detail.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • D
                          dreamslacker
                          last edited by

                          @stramato:

                          • Intel Pro 100/1000 Dual Port is hard to find
                          • Intel Pro 100/1000 Quad port is very expensive and harder to find
                          • Most new motherboards only have 2-3 classic PCI slots

                          I'm building a 4-WAN load balancer.

                          on-board LAN goes to LAN
                          PCI Ethernet goes to WAN1
                          PCI Ethernet goes to WAN2
                          USB Ethernet goes to WAN3
                          USB Ethernet goes to WAN4

                          will something like this work with FreeBSD pfSense 1.2.3?
                          http://cgi.ebay.ph/USB-LAN-RJ45-Ethernet-10-100-MBPS-Network-Adapter-/270508484037

                          Don't really care about it's speed. Since my WAN's are just 4Mbps down / 0.5Mbps up DSL

                          Since you're willing to buy off ebay, look for the Hong Kong sellers selling the Intel MT Dual-port Server adapters.  They're about US$27 each inclusive of shipping and the sellers ship internationally.  I bought a pair from them and they work like a charm on 1.2.3 final with the em(4) drivers.  I use one in my cybercafe with a 3m/ 768k dsl line and one at home with a 15m/ 1.5m cable connection.
                          I have since switched to 2.0 after most of the webgui bugs were cleared off.

                          See here:
                          http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-8492MT-1000-MT-dual-port-server-PCI-network-card-/320552969530?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • First post
                            Last post
                          Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.