[elrepo] request for updated sis190 driver

[Phil Perry]

Del wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but the ELRepo web page 
> says this list is to "make suggestions for new packages".
> 

Hi Del,

Yes, absolutely :)

> The sis190 driver supplied with the current Linux kernel is relatively 
> unstable.  It doesn't work reliably unless the ethernet MTU is lowered 
> to 1492, and it doesn't work at all in the x86_64 kernel.  A patch to 
> solve the general instability problem went into the 2.6.24 kernel (or 
> thereabouts), and a patch to solve the x86_64 kernel has recently been 
> posted to the kernel git tree.
> 

OK, that sounds promising. Which patch are you looking at in the git tree:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.30.y.git;a=history;f=drivers/net/sis190.c;h=55ccd51d247efc3fa20cddd6616ddc8607637e17;hb=a616b3e5a8c7a379f2fd4bc4e153868509fec94a

Also, please could you test the latest testing kernel from here:

http://people.redhat.com/dzickus/el5/

just to be sure these issues aren't fixed in the upcoming 5.4 release.

> Is there any chance that elrepo could host an updated version of this 
> driver?  The chipset is found in an increasing number of low-end 
> notebook and subnotebook machines.
> 

Absolutely, if we can get it backported.

Alan has handled network drivers to date, so I don't know if he'll want 
to pick this one up too, but he's not around for a few days. In the 
meantime, if you could please report back on the state of play with the 
latest testing kernel and we'll take it from there :)