Token Ring cards and networking issues

Hello!
I've been asked to update an existing TR based network to allow a
Linux box to play on it. Is there anything special I need to look out
for? Or failing that, anything that comes under the heading of, "These
things you do when you first start using your Linux box on Token
Ring"?
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Gregg gregg dot drwho8 atsign gmail dot com
"This signature is lost."

On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 12:23:17 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hello!
> I've been asked to update an existing TR based network to allow a Linux
> box to play on it. Is there anything special I need to look out for? Or
> failing that, anything that comes under the heading of, "These things you
> do when you first start using your Linux box on Token Ring"?

Apart from having to find a token ring card and put it in the Linux box,
no. You'll need a supported card, but most of the common ones (e.g. IBM
and Madge) are supported. And of course ensure that the appropriate driver
is included in the kernel. As token ring is so rare these days some
default kernels might not have the driver, you may need to compile it.

When I first put a Linux box on a token ring in the days of ISA cards and
2.0 kernels IIRC there were a few hoops to jump through regarding
interrupts and I/O addresses. I remember having to mess around with the
bootable configuration floppy supplied with old IBM cards. But I've not
had any trouble this century. It's been a few years since I used a token
ring mind

I've never had to do anything at all to the token ring infrastructure. It
doesn't care about OSs.

I have heard that there may be problems with multiple token ring cards in
Linux. I have not tried it.

There's a token ring howto: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Token-Ring/hardware.html
But it's unlikely you'll need to read it unless you have problems.

Regards, Ian