AMD PCNET: Difference between revisions

The '''AMD PCNET''' family of network interface chips are supported by most popular virtual machines and emulators, including QEMU, VMware and VirtualBox. While not as simple as the [RTL8139] it is easier to test with an emulator, as the RTL8139 is only supported in QEMU, and getting QEMU's full network support running is sometimes difficult. This article will focus on the AM79C70A a.k.a. the AMD PCnet-PCI II in VirtualBox.

This article will cover using the card with IO port accesses as opposed to memory mapped IO.

 

The card uses a system of index registers. What this means is that one first writes to an IO port to select the chip register you want to access, and then read/write to/from a certain IO port. It can also support reading and writing in both 16 and 32bit modes, but this article will use 32bit mode for simplicity's sake.

 

In 32bit mode the card has only 4+6 IO ports necessary to use the card:

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