Alteon AceNIC Tigon I/II Ethernet controllers

This page describes how to enable support for AceNIC Ethernet controllers on Debian systems.

?TableOfContents(3)

acenic is a module for Alteon AceNIC Tigon I and II gigabit Ethernet controllers, included in the mainline Linux kernel. [#supported Supported devices] are listed at the end of this page.

In [wiki:src:linux-2.6 linux-2.6] 2.6.23-1, the binary-only firmware for this driver was removed (see the [http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-2.6_2.6.26-13/changelog#versionversion2.6.23-1 package changelog]), due to discovered [:KernelFirmwareLicensing:firmware licensing issues]. The driver was disabled at this time. It was re-enabled in linux-2.6 2.6.26-1 when the request_firmware patch was applied.?FootNote([http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-2.6_2.6.26-13/changelog#versionversion2.6.26-1 Package changelog for linux-2.6 (2.6.26-1)])

Installation

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Lenny

Firmware is required to be obtained and installed prior to device operation:

Install the git-core package:

aptitude update
aptitude install git-core

Acquire the AceNIC Tigon firmware from the [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git linux-firmware] GIT tree:
```
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
```

Install the firmware:

cp linux-firmware/acenic/tg1.bin /lib/firmware/acenic_tg1.bin
cp linux-firmware/acenic/tg2.bin /lib/firmware/acenic_tg2.bin

Reload the acenic driver:
```
modprobe -r acenic ; modprobe acenic
```
Configure your network interface, see ["NetworkConfiguration"].

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Etch

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2.6.18 kernel

Firmware is present within the driver included in Debian 2.6.18 kernel images. Configure your network interface, see ["NetworkConfiguration"].

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2.6.24 kernel

The acenic module is not included in Debian 2.6.24 (["EtchAndAHalf"]) kernel images.

You can either use the stock [#etch_2618 2.6.18 kernel], or install a 2.6.26 kernel from [:Backports:Debian Backports]. Once your sources are configured: apt-cache search linux-image-2.6.26 and install a package appropriate for your system.

Restart your system with this kernel, then continue using the [#etch_2626 2.6.26 kernel procedure] below.

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2.6.26 kernel

?Include(acenic,,0,from="^##TAG:PROCEDURE_START",to="^##TAG:PROCEDURE_END")

?Anchor(supported)

Supported Devices

The page ["HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI"] explains how to identify a PCI device.

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo acenic on Lenny.

PCI: 1011:001A Digital Equipment Corporation Farallon PN9000SX Gigabit Ethernet
PCI: 10A9:0009 Silicon Graphics, Inc. AceNIC Gigabit Ethernet
PCI: 10B7:0001 3Com Corporation 3c985 1000BaseSX (SX/TX)
PCI: 12AE:0001 Alteon Networks Inc. AceNIC Gigabit Ethernet
PCI: 12AE:0002 Alteon Networks Inc. AceNIC Gigabit Ethernet (Copper)
PCI: 12AE:00FA Alteon Networks Inc. Farallon PN9100-T Gigabit Ethernet
PCI: 1385:620A Netgear GA620 Gigabit Ethernet
PCI: 1385:630A Netgear GA630 Gigabit Ethernet

Broadcom Tigon3 Ethernet controllers are supported by the tg3 driver.

acenic