Realtek 8029-Based PCI Ethernet Card

This document describes how to use a Realtek 8029-based PCI Ethernet board with Invisible LAN. These instructions apply only to the Adapter Independent version of Invisible LAN, and only for DOS and Windows 3.X.

Realtek is a company that manufactures Ethernet controller chips. Many other companies use Realtek chips to produce their Ethernet boards. The Realtek 8029 controller chip is marked with the part number "RTL8029". If you have a PCI Ethernet board with a controller chip marked "RTL8029" then you have a Realtek 8029-based PCI Ethernet board.

The Realtek 8029 is NE-2000 compatible, except for the I/O port address. Therefore, you can use the NE-2000 driver for Invisible LAN, but you have to manually enter the correct I/O address. We have a program called 8029INFO which tells you the I/O address.

Instructions

To use a Realtek 8029-based PCI Ethernet card with Invisible LAN, proceed as follows:

1. Click here to download 8029INFO.ZIP. After downloading, unzip the file.
    
2. Install the Realtek 8029-based PCI Ethernet card in your computer.
    
3. At the DOS prompt, run the program 8029INFO. You should see a display similar to the following:
   
   The Realtek 8029-based PCI Ethernet card is installed.
       I/O port address: D800
       IRQ level: 11
    
4. Write down the I/O port address and IRQ level.
    
5. At the DOS prompt, run SETUP30, which is the setup program for Invisible LAN. Then load your configuration file.
    
6. Go to Advanced Configuration, General Network Parameters, and set the network hardware type to "NE2000".
    
7. Go to Advanced Configuration, TransBIOS Parameters. Set the hardware I/O port to the I/O port address you wrote down. Set the hardware IRQ level to the IRQ level you wrote down.
    
8. Return to the main menu of SETUP30. Save your configuration file, and then exit from the program.
    
9. Type NET30 to start the network. If you have entered the I/O port address and IRQ level correctly, the network should start normally.

Notes

The Realtek's I/O port address and IRQ level are assigned by your computer's PCI BIOS.

If you add or remove any boards in your computer, the Realtek's I/O port address or IRQ level may change. Therefore, if you add or remove any boards, you may have to re-run 8029INFO and change the information entered in SETUP30.

If you run NETDIAG, the I/O address is not displayed properly in the NETDIAG grid. That's because NETDIAG assumes that NE-2000 boards can only have I/O addresses in the range 200 through 3E0. But Realtek boards usually have addresses outside that range.

These instructions are only for use with DOS and Windows 3.X. If you are running Windows 95, you don't have to do anything special to use Invisible LAN. Simply install the Windows 95 driver that came with your Ethernet board. Or, you can download the latest Windows 95 driver from Realtek's web site at http://www.realtek.com.tw.

Notices: Copyright 1997 by Invisible Software, Inc. Invisible Software and InvisibleLAN are trademarks of Invisible Software, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

This document was prepared on 11/18/97, and was believed to be accurate as of that date. Procedures, specifications, and compatibility may change without notice, and therefore this document may be out-of-date and/or inapplicable to current product versions. Invisible Software provides this document "AS IS" and without warranty of any kind. Under no circumstances shall this document be construed as creating or expanding any warranty of product performance.

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