How to tell if my netbook has gigabit Ethernet (and/or can use it)

tawalker · 2012-01-12 10:48:20

I have owned an Asus Eee 701SD (the 8GB version) since 2009, and installed Arch on it last summer (a great move :-) ).

The other day, I came across a page on the FreeBSD wiki, which suggested that certain 700-series Eee's have a gigabit Ethernet interface (rather than the usual 10/100). Through checking 'hardinfo' and 'sudo lshw -c network', it appears that my machine might have a gigabit interface, but I'm not sure. This is the output from lshw:

  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet
       vendor: Atheros Communications
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: b0
       serial: 00:24:8c:3f:3a:ba
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=ATL1E driverversion=1.0.0.7-NAPI firmware=L1e latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:44 memory:fbfc0000-fbffffff ioport:ec00(size=128)

This is a bit confusing - the "capacity" heading above indicates the Ethernet is 10/100, but the Atheros Ethernet interface is given as "AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet" (confirmed by 'lspci'), which I guess means it can act as either gigabit or 10/100.

Assuming that all this means I do have a gigabit Ethernet port on my netbook: will the Arch system make automatic use of the extra speed, or do I need to issue any commands, change any settings, recompile the kernel, etc.?

Many thanks :-)

Tim

lolilolicon · 2012-01-12 11:21:11

If it were a Gigabit NIC, it would simply be "AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit"
Seriously, if the driver is working properly, 100Mbit/s is what you have got. You can check again with

ethtool eth0

which lists the supported device speeds.

Last edited by lolilolicon (2012-01-12 11:21:30)

natestar13 · 2012-01-16 16:13:36

The command lspci will also tell you what kind of Ethernet you have. Below is my laptop's output

$ lspci | grep -i net
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-12 10:48:20

How to tell if my netbook has gigabit Ethernet (and/or can use it)

#2 2012-01-12 11:21:11

Re: How to tell if my netbook has gigabit Ethernet (and/or can use it)

#3 2012-01-16 16:13:36

Re: How to tell if my netbook has gigabit Ethernet (and/or can use it)

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