rec.autos.simulators

I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico), and
they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy my network
card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at $15
or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)? I'm
not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan,
and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem.

Thanks!

Go with a brand name card. The no-name card *may* work perfectly
well, but if it doesn't, it can take you more than $5 worth of time
and aggrevation to get things diagnosed and fixed. I tend to go with
3Com cards exclusively, but I'm sure there are others out there that
are just as good.

--
  Darryl

You can usually find the Linksys LNETX100 pretty cheap now days.
I have about twenty of these cards that have been running for a year with no
problems.

Hope this helps.

Dave

You're going to be looking at D-Link, Linksys or Netgear probably.  They
will all be fine.

Eldred
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Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

I experienced some serious compatibility problems with 3Com cards now 6
years ago, so I switched to using RealTek chipset based KTI network cards
(one of those no-name brands) and have had no problems since.

Jan.
=---

I think I will be going with the D-Link DFE 538TX. It's the cheapest name
brand NIC I could find in my area at $19.99 CND (funny, the DFE 530TX was
the same price). That $15 no name brand had some many complaints of
disconnects and other issues.

So I have GPL, F1C, now maybe I should get NR2003 or NT2004.

Hope to race you guys online ASAP.

RealTek had some issues with their cards a number of years ago -- I
forget exactly how long ago it was. Everyone was crying the blues
over them in various hardware forums at the time. Obviously, they
have improved since then.

My only point was that for $5, buy the brand name card rather than
the no-name clone. If the difference had been $20, I would have said,
try the no-name card. You can return it if it doesn't work. However,
since it's gong to cost me more than $5 just in gas, to go back to
the store for a new card, why take a chance for such a small savings?

--
  Darryl

Like memory, this is an area I don't skimp in.  I buy only 3COM or Intel
corporate-class cards.  They are not that expensive, and support any feature
you might care to ever use.

Currently, I use the Intel Pro/1000 MT.  They are around $55 the last time I
looked.  Enterprise-class card with Enterprise-class performance for $55.
I'll probably own that card until Ethernet is replaced in the future
sometime :)

-Larry

NIC cards are not something you want to have to change a lot, especially if
you use Microsoft or other products that have that draconian "Product
Activation Feature".  NIC cards are one of the main components this ***
sinks it's claws in to for the authorization.

Hell, I can't even update the DRIVERS half the time without it pissing off
the Product Activation, and requiring a phone call to Microsoft.

Larry

Everytime someone at that place takes a breath, they change the friggin
chipset vendor they use, and they all take different drivers.

If you need a driver update for thier 10/100 card, you actually have to look
at pictures on their web site to find out which of the 5-7 (I forget the
exact count) chipsets your card has so you can get the right driver.

And the boxes all have the same exact part number.

I once bought three of these cards at CompUSA, and I'll be damned if they
all didn't have a DIFFERENT chipset, and require a different set of drivers.
All identical boxes with the same identical part number.

Screw LinkSys NIC cards :)

-Larry