---
name: "de"
section: "4"
platform: "linux"
package: "freebsd-manpages"
version: "6.0-5"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/de"
---

# de(4)

DEC DC21x4x Ethernet device driver

## NAME

**de** – DEC DC21x4x Ethernet device driver

## SYNOPSIS

To compile support for the

**de** driver into your kernel, place the following line in your kernel configuration file:

**device de**

Alternatively, to load the

**de** driver at boot time, place the following line in [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md):

```
if_de_load="YES"
```

## DESCRIPTION

The **de** driver provides support for the Ethernet adapters based on the Digital Equipment DC21x4x based self-contained Ethernet and Fast Ethernet chips.

The **de** driver supports the following media types:

- autoselect

  Enable autoselection of the media type and options

- 10baseT/UTP

  Set 10Mbps operation on the 10baseT port

- 10base2/BNC

  Set 10Mbps operation on the BNC port

- 10base5/AUI

  Set 10Mbps operation on the AUI port

- 100baseTX

  Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation

- 100baseFX

  Set 100Mbps operation

- 100baseT4

  Set 100Mbps operation (4-pair cat-3 cable)

The **de** driver supports the following media options:

- full-duplex

  Set full duplex operation

Note that the media types available depend on the particular card in use. Some cards are explicitly programmed to a particular media type by a setup utility and are not changeable.

Use the [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md) command an in particular the **-m** flag to list the supported media types for your particular card.

The old “ifconfig linkN” method of configuration is not supported.

## HARDWARE

Adapters supported by the **de** driver include:

- Adaptec ANA-6944/TX

- Cogent EM100FX and EM440TX

- Corega FastEther PCI-TX

- D-Link DFE-500TX

- DEC DE435, DE425, DEC DE450, and DEC DE500

- ELECOM LD-PCI2T, LD-PCITS

- I-O DATA LA2/T-PCI

- SMC Etherpower 8432, 9332 and 9334

- ZNYX ZX3xx

## DIAGNOSTICS

- de%d: waking device from sleep/snooze mode

  The 21041 and 21140A chips support suspending the operation of the card.

- de%d: error: desired IRQ of %d does not match device's actual IRQ of %d

  The device probe detected that the board is configured for a different interrupt than the one specified in the kernel configuration file.

- de%d: not configured; limit of %d reached or exceeded

  There is a limit of 32 **de** devices allowed in a single machine.

- de%d: not configured; 21040 pass 2.0 required (%d.%d found)

  - de%d: not configured; 21140 pass 1.1 required (%d.%d found)

  Certain revisions of the chipset are not supported by this driver.

## CAVEATS

Since the 21040 is available on both EISA and PCI boards, one must be careful in how one defines the 21040 in the kernel config file.

## SEE ALSO

[arp(4)](/arp/4.md), [netintro(4)](/netintro/4.md), [ng\_ether(4)](/ng_ether/4.md), [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md)

## AUTHORS

The **de** device driver was written by Matt Thomas. This manual page was written by David E. O'Brien.