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Performance: AsanteFAST versus Farallon EtherFast?

Posted by: eharmon on 2024-09-24 00:09:38

So, it's been benchmarked here before that the AsanteFAST 10/100 Ethernet card...just isn't too fast. Unsurprisingly older OT just can't push very quick anyway, and so the returns are really diminished.

68K/early PPC with onboard AAUI 100mbps ethernet?

I learned a lot from this thread, but it looks like nobody ever posted test results... I have some here for those still curious: Test file: Mac OS 9.2.1 Update.smi (84.4MB / 86,018,641 bytes) Switch: TrendNET TEG-S24g Gigabit Server: Power Macintosh 9600/1000(G4 [2MB Cache on board]) Apple...

68kmla.org

Curiously though, looking at photos on Bitsavers, I realized there's a difference between that card and the Farallon "EtherFast":

The AsanteFAST uses an SMSC LAN91C100, while the Farallon uses a LAN91C100FD. What's that mean? The LAN91C100FD properly supports full duplex transfers.

http://bitsavers.org/pdf/apple/nubus/farallon/etherfast/Farallon_EtherFast_f.JPG

https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan91c100fd

Note that I'm not sure the Farallon is really an "EtherFast" at all...perhaps this was a Fast EtherTX 10/100? Farallon has it pegged at 20MBps "bus performance" which is kinda corny...guess they didn't even support NuBus 90!: https://web.archive.org/web/19980524081443/http://www.farallon.com/product/fen/fecards.html

Has anyone ever compared the two? I wonder if the Farallon wins...

Posted by: olePigeon on 2024-09-25 13:55:19

How do they compare to Apple's A/ROSE ethernet adapter?

Posted by: NJRoadfan on 2024-09-25 14:58:41

What is the maximum theoretical transfer speed of NuBus? The bus alone presents a huge bottleneck. Add in that these cards are likely polled I/O driven and not bus mastering DMA (read: Cheap) attached to an OS not exactly known for its I/O throughput.

Posted by: Unknown_K on 2024-09-25 15:17:05

If you can do 11MBs on a scuzzy Nubus card, you should be able to get more then 10Mb speed with a network Nubus card.

Apples networking sucks in 68K and early PPC machines. I can get much faster transfers on a 486 with VLB or EISA 10Mb ethernet.

Posted by: Mk.558 on 2024-09-25 18:01:16

I got a maximum of 866KiB/sec on a AsanteFAST 10/100 with a Rocket under System 6 for a download and 606KiB/sec upload. Agree with Unknown_K that the networking performance is mediocre, but still very easy to set up compared to NFS...

Posted by: eharmon on 2025-10-13 22:40:00

Today I was doing some research and noticed in a picture the Farallon uses a full duplex chip and I was curious to learn more! So then I found my own thread here...oops.

Anyway, they do share pinouts, so I suspect it's a drop in replacement:

LAN91C100: https://datasheet4u.com/datasheet-pdf/SMSCCorporation/LAN91C100/pdf.php?id=582511
LAN91C100FD: https://rocelec.widen.net/view/pdf/logpzofyr8/SMSCS00288-1.pdf

Application Note: https://static5.arrow.com/pdfs/2004/0512/semi_a/2/smsc/application note/an82.pdf

So, theoretically it's a drop in replacement, except you need to activate full duplex mode by setting a bit (see page 23 of the FD datasheet - SWFDUP), so it won't have full duplex without modifying the ROM/driver.

Probably does nothing for ethernet performance either -- it's clearly bottlenecked by the OS. And on a switched network, half duplex isn't slowing down your other devices.

So overall, I'm still curious if the Farallon is faster (it may not set the duplex bit anyway), but I suspect modding a (rare) AsanteFAST doesn't have much value, unless the chip happens to be dead.

Posted by: eharmon on 2026-03-12 00:36:10

So overall, I'm still curious if the Farallon is faster (it may not set the duplex bit anyway), but I suspect modding a (rare) AsanteFAST doesn't have much value, unless the chip happens to be dead.

It does not, in fact, set the duplex bit:

The PN990 and PN994 Farallon cards do not support Full Duplex mode in Macintosh machines.

This is taken from the Farallon Fast Ethernet FAQ. PN990 is the FastEtherTX-10/100 NuBus Card. As a knock against it, it also claims not to support autonegotiation.

On the plus side, I have noted that the AsanteFAST has 128KiB of buffer, so it may interrupt less, or at least drop fewer packets when the machine is busy.

I wonder if this was, in part, to reduce talk time on 100Mbps hubs. Giving the product a purpose even if it's still dog slow on Classic.

EDIT: Well...okay nevermind on the first comment. There's a Farallon PN990 with a 3com chipset, and a PN990a with the SMSC! My guess is the a rev is quite a bit better, if you come across one: https://web.archive.org/web/2001012...com/support/software/download/fenubusupd.html