docs: net: arcnet: remove outdated/irrelevant information; improve style

The ARCnet documentation contains a lot of outdated and irrelevant
information (such as changes in decades-old driver versions and
messages from a former maintainer) and has some writing style issues.
Remove this unnecessary information and improve the writing style. Also
remove links to pages that no longer exist.

Signed-off-by: Ethan Nelson-Moore <enelsonmoore@gmail.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260521001631.45434-7-enelsonmoore@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
This commit is contained in:
Ethan Nelson-Moore
2026-05-20 17:16:18 -07:00
committed by Jakub Kicinski
parent e859db8ac4
commit 19d554d329
2 changed files with 26 additions and 79 deletions

View File

@@ -8,10 +8,8 @@ ARCnet Hardware
.. note::
1) This file is a supplement to arcnet.rst. Please read that for general
driver configuration help.
2) This file is no longer Linux-specific. It should probably be moved out
of the kernel sources. Ideas?
This file is a supplement to arcnet.rst. Please read that for general
driver configuration help.
Because so many people (myself included) seem to have obtained ARCnet cards
without manuals, this file contains a quick introduction to ARCnet hardware
@@ -134,13 +132,11 @@ And now to the cabling. What you can connect together:
network.
2. A card to a passive hub. Remember that all unused connectors on the hub
must be properly terminated with 93 Ohm (or something else if you don't
have the right ones) terminators.
must be properly terminated with 93 Ohm terminators (or something else if you
don't have the right ones), although the network may work without
terminators.
(Avery's note: oops, I didn't know that. Mine (TV cable) works
anyway, though.)
3. A card to an active hub. Here is no need to terminate the unused
3. A card to an active hub. Here there is no need to terminate the unused
connectors except some kind of aesthetic feeling. But, there may not be
more than eleven active hubs between any two computers. That of course
doesn't limit the number of active hubs on the network.
@@ -150,7 +146,7 @@ And now to the cabling. What you can connect together:
5. An active hub to passive hub.
Remember that you cannot connect two passive hubs together. The power loss
implied by such a connection is too high for the net to operate reliably.
implied by such a connection is too high for the network to operate reliably.
An example of a typical ARCnet network::
@@ -163,8 +159,8 @@ An example of a typical ARCnet network::
|
S
The BUS topology is very similar to the one used by Ethernet. The only
difference is in cable and terminators: they should be 93 Ohm. Ethernet
The BUS topology is very similar to the one used by 10BASE2 Ethernet. The only
difference is in cable and terminators: they should be 93 Ohm. 10BASE2 Ethernet
uses 50 Ohm impedance. You use T connectors to put the computers on a single
line of cable, the bus. You have to put terminators at both ends of the
cable. A typical BUS ARCnet network looks like::
@@ -177,7 +173,7 @@ cable. A typical BUS ARCnet network looks like::
T - T connector
But that is not all! The two types can be connected together. According to
the official documentation the only way of connecting them is using an active
the official documentation, the only way of connecting them is using an active
hub::
A------T------T------TR
@@ -186,7 +182,7 @@ hub::
|
S
The official docs also state that you can use STAR cards at the ends of
The official docs also state that you can use STAR cards at the ends of a
BUS network in place of a BUS card and a terminator::
S------T------T------S
@@ -211,7 +207,7 @@ example::
| | S------T----H---S |
S S B R S
A basically different cabling scheme is used with Twisted Pair cabling. Each
A completely different cabling scheme is used with Twisted Pair cabling. Each
of the TP cards has two RJ (phone-cord style) connectors. The cards are
then daisy-chained together using a cable connecting every two neighboring
cards. The ends are terminated with RJ 93 Ohm terminators which plug into
@@ -292,11 +288,13 @@ Setting the Jumpers
Make sure you set ETS1 and ETS2 to the SAME VALUE for all cards on your
network.
Also, on many cards (not mine, though) there are red and green LED's.
Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@suse.cz> tells me this is what they mean:
LED Indicators
==============
Many cards have red and green LEDs, which have the following meanings:
=============== =============== =====================================
GREEN RED Status
Green Red Status
=============== =============== =====================================
OFF OFF Power off
OFF Short flashes Cabling problems (broken cable or not

View File

@@ -12,26 +12,6 @@ ARCnet
and cabling information if you're like many of us and didn't happen to get a
manual with your ARCnet card.
Since no one seems to listen to me otherwise, perhaps a poem will get your
attention::
This driver's getting fat and beefy,
But my cat is still named Fifi.
Hmm, I think I'm allowed to call that a poem, even though it's only two
lines. Hey, I'm in Computer Science, not English. Give me a break.
The point is: I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want to hear from you if
you test this and get it working. Or if you don't. Or anything.
ARCnet 0.32 ALPHA first made it into the Linux kernel 1.1.80 - this was
nice, but after that even FEWER people started writing to me because they
didn't even have to install the patch. <sigh>
Come on, be a sport! Send me a success report!
(hey, that was even better than my original poem... this is getting bad!)
----
These are the ARCnet drivers for Linux.
@@ -62,31 +42,9 @@ netdev@vger.kernel.org and make sure to Cc: maintainer listed in
Other Drivers and Info
----------------------
You can try my ARCNET page on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.qis.net/~jschmitz/arcnet/
Also, SMC (one of the companies that makes ARCnet cards) has a WWW site you
might be interested in, which includes several drivers for various cards
including ARCnet. Try:
http://www.smc.com/
Performance Technologies makes various network software that supports
ARCnet:
http://www.perftech.com/ or ftp to ftp.perftech.com.
Novell makes a networking stack for DOS which includes ARCnet drivers. Try
FTPing to ftp.novell.com.
You can get the Crynwr packet driver collection (including arcether.com, the
one you'll want to use with ARCnet cards) from
oak.oakland.edu:/simtel/msdos/pktdrvr. It won't work perfectly on a 386+
without patches, though, and also doesn't like several cards. Fixed
versions are available on my WWW page, or via e-mail if you don't have WWW
access.
You can try JoAnne Schmitz's ARCNET page on the World Wide Web at:
https://www.qis.net/~jschmitz/arcnet/
Supported Hardware
@@ -162,9 +120,8 @@ LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups:
are incompatible with the Internet standard. They try to pretend
the cards are Ethernet, and confuse everyone else on the network.
However, v2.00 and higher of the Linux ARCnet driver supports this
protocol via the 'arc0e' device. See the section on "Multiprotocol
Support" for more information.
The Linux ARCnet driver supports this protocol via the 'arc0e' device.
See the section on "Multiprotocol Support" for more information.
Using the freeware Samba server and clients for Linux, you can now
interface quite nicely with TCP/IP-based WfWg or Lan Manager
@@ -199,7 +156,7 @@ NetBSD/AmiTCP:
Using Multiprotocol ARCnet
--------------------------
The ARCnet driver v2.10 ALPHA supports three protocols, each on its own
The ARCnet driver supports three protocols, each on its own
"virtual network device":
====== ===============================================================
@@ -391,7 +348,7 @@ can set up your network then:
It works: what now?
-------------------
Send mail following :ref:`arcnet-netdev`. Describe your setup, preferably
:ref:`Send an email to netdev <arcnet-netdev>`. Describe your setup, preferably
including driver version, kernel version, ARCnet card model, CPU type, number
of systems on your network, and list of software in use.
@@ -435,16 +392,8 @@ You can change the debug level without recompiling the kernel by typing::
where "xxx" is the debug level you want. For example, "metric 1015" would put
you at debug level 15. Debug level 7 is currently the default.
Note that the debug level is (starting with v1.90 ALPHA) a binary
combination of different debug flags; so debug level 7 is really 1+2+4 or
D_NORMAL+D_EXTRA+D_INIT. To include D_DURING, you would add 16 to this,
resulting in debug level 23.
Note that the debug level is a binary combination of different debug flags;
debug level 7 is really 1+2+4 or D_NORMAL+D_EXTRA+D_INIT. To include D_DURING,
you would add 16 to this, resulting in debug level 23.
If you don't understand that, you probably don't want to know anyway.
E-mail me about your problem.
I want to send money: what now?
-------------------------------
Go take a nap or something. You'll feel better in the morning.