NAME¶

xe — Xircom PCMCIA Ethernet device driver

SYNOPSIS¶

To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following line in your kernel configuration file:

Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in loader.conf(5):

if_xe_load="YES"

DEPRECATION NOTICE¶

The xe driver is not present in FreeBSD 13.0 and later. See https://github.com/freebsd/fcp/blob/master/fcp-0101.md for more information.

DESCRIPTION¶

The xe driver supports PCMCIA Ethernet adapters based on Xircom CE2- and CE3-class hardware. This includes devices made by Xircom along with various OEM manufacturers.

Please note that the xe driver only supports PCMCIA cards and their Ethernet functions. xe does not support the on-board modem device located on some version of the Ethernet/modem combo cards. In particular, Xircom RealPort2 cards are not supported by this driver.

The xe driver supports the following media types:

autoselect

Enable autoselection of media type and options.

10Base2/BNC

Select 10Mbps operation on a BNC coaxial connector.

10BaseT/UTP

Select 10Mbps operation on a RJ-45 connector.

100BaseTX

Select 100Mbps operation.

Note that 100BaseTX operation is not available on CE2-class cards, while the 10Base2/BNC mode is only available on CE2-class cards. Full-duplex operation is currently not supported. For more information on configuring network interface devices, see ifconfig(8).

HARDWARE¶

The xe driver supports the following cards:

• Xircom CreditCard Ethernet (PS-CE2-10)
• Xircom CreditCard Ethernet + Modem 28 (PS-CEM-28)
• Xircom CreditCard Ethernet + Modem 33 (CEM33)
• Xircom CreditCard 10/100 (CE3, CE3B)
• Xircom CreditCard Ethernet 10/100 + Modem 56 (CEM56)
• Xircom RealPort Ethernet 10 (RE10)
• Xircom RealPort Ethernet 10/100 (RE100)
• Xircom RealPort Ethernet 10/100 + Modem 56 (REM56, REM56G)
• Accton Fast EtherCard-16 (EN2226)
• Compaq Microcom CPQ550 Ethernet/Modem PC Card
• Compaq Netelligent 10/100 PC Card (CPQ-10/100)
• Intel EtherExpress Pro/100 PC Card Mobile Adapter 16 (Pro/100 M16A)
• Intel EtherExpress Pro/100 LAN/Modem PC Card Adapter (Pro/100 M16B)

Other similar devices using the same hardware may also be supported.

DIAGNOSTICS¶

xe%d: Cannot allocate ioport

xe%d: Cannot allocate irq

A fatal initialization error occurred while attempting to allocate system resources for the card.

xe%d: Unable to fix your %s combo card

A fatal initialization error occurred while attempting to attach an Ethernet/modem combo card.

xe%d: watchdog timeout: resetting card

The card failed to generate an interrupt acknowledging a transmitted packet. May indicate a PCMCIA configuration problem.

xe%d: no carrier

The card has lost all contact with the network; this usually indicates a cable problem.

SEE ALSO¶

pccard(4), ifconfig(8)

HISTORY¶

The xe driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.3.

AUTHORS¶

The xe device driver was written by Scott Mitchell <rsm@FreeBSD.org>. This manual page was written by Scott Mitchell <rsm@FreeBSD.org>, and Tom Rhodes <trhodes@FreeBSD.org>.

BUGS¶

Supported devices will fail to attach on some machines using the NEWCARD PC Card framework.

Automatic media selection is usually unreliable.