Comm Slot II 10/100 Ethernet Cards

Comm Slot II Ethernet Cards using New Old Stock RTL8139 chips. Note that a driver installation is required. Please scroll down to the full description for installation instructions and driver link.

Tested compatible with Mac OS 7.6, 8.1, 8.6, and 9.1 on a Performa 6400/180.

Note: these all have the same MAC(Media Access Control) address so having multiple on the same network at once will cause issues

This is a Comm Slot II Ethernet Card, reverse engineered from an RTL8139 PCI card and transmuted into the CS II form factor. Comm Slot II is basically just PCI.

This card requires a driver installation.

Drivers are available here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/farallon-legacy-drivers

* Download the “CD6_NetLINE_PN993_Install.toast” file listed there, put it on a BlueSCSI, and it’ll appear as a CD which can directly install the software.

* Alternately, download “Proxim_Farallon_Page.zip” from the above Macintosh Garden page, unzip it, then extract the “993v14.sit.hqx” file and install from there.

** Notably, the Windows installs on this Proxim Farallon Page download are reporting as being potentially infected with a trojan virus, so be careful

Setup:

* Install the CS II card, taking care not to break the printed tang (it hooks into the opening first, then install into the CS II slot)

** The mounting tang is printed with conductive plastic

* Install the driver

* Reboot

* Set up the TCP/IP control panel to use Ethernet

* You may need to run the “Farallon Fast EN Config” utility (present in the installer image) to ensure the card gets a connection

* You may also need to run the “Farallon Ping” utility to make the card pick up your TCP/IP settings

Benchmarking:

Basic download benchmarking has been performed. Note that there are no guarantees on transfer speed – that depends on network factors which are not under my control.

* On PM 7300 G3 OS 9.1 via iCab, average of ~150kB per second (variable, lows in the high 80s and highs reaching 175)

* On P6400/180 OS 7.6 via Netscape, average of ~100kB per second (variable, lows in the high 60s and highs reaching 120)

* On P6400/180 OS 9.1 via iCab, average of ~150kB per second (variable, lows in the high 80s and highs reaching 175)