---
name: "if_vte"
section: "4"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/if_vte"
---

# if\_vte(4)

Vortex86 RDC R6040 Fast Ethernet driver

## NAME

**vte** – Vortex86 RDC R6040 Fast Ethernet driver

## SYNOPSIS

**device** **miibus** **device** **vte**

In [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md): **hw.vte.tx\_deep\_copy** **if\_vte\_load="YES"**

In [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md) or [sysctl.conf(5)](/sysctl.conf/5.md): **dev.vte.%d.rx\_mod** **dev.vte.%d.tx\_mod** **dev.vte.%d.stats**

## DESCRIPTION

The **vte** device driver provides support for RDC R6040 Fast Ethernet controller which is commonly found on Vortex86 System On a Chip (SoC).

The RDC R6040 has integrated 10/100 PHY for 10/100Mbps support in full or half-duplex. The controller supports interrupt moderation mechanism, a 64-bit multicast hash filter, VLAN over-size frame and four station addresses. The **vte** device driver uses three station addresses out of four as perfect multicast filter.

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

- **autoselect**

  Enable autoselection of the media type and options. The user can manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to [rc.conf(5)](/rc.conf/5.md).

- **10baseT/UTP**

  Set 10Mbps operation.

- **100baseTX**

  Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation.

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

- **full-duplex**

  Force full duplex operation.

- **half-duplex**

  Force half duplex operation.

For more information on configuring this device, see [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md).

## HARDWARE

The **vte** device driver provides support for the following Ethernet controllers:

- DM&P Vortex86 RDC R6040 Fast Ethernet controller

## LOADER TUNABLES

Tunables can be set at the [loader(8)](/loader/8.md) prompt before booting the kernel or stored in [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md).

- *hw.vte.tx\_deep\_copy*

  The RDC R6040 controller has no auto-padding support for short frames and the controller's DMA engine does not have capability to handle multiple buffers for a TX frame such that driver has to create a single contiguous TX buffer. This hardware limitation leads to poor TX performance since most of CPU cycles are wasted on both de-fragmenting mbuf chains and padding. This tunable enables deep copy operation for TX frames such that driver will spend less CPU cycles in de-fragmentation with the cost of extra TX buffer memory. The default value is 1 to use deep copy.

## SYSCTL VARIABLES

The following variables are available as both [sysctl(8)](/sysctl/8.md) variables and [loader(8)](/loader/8.md) tunables:

- *dev.vte.%d.rx\_mod*

  Maximum number of packets to fire RX completion interrupt. The accepted range is 0 to 15, the default is 15.

- *dev.vte.%d.tx\_mod*

  Maximum number of packets to fire TX completion interrupt. The accepted range is 0 to 15, the default is 15.

- *dev.vte.%d.stats*

  Show hardware MAC statistics maintained in driver.

## SEE ALSO

[altq(4)](/altq/4.md), [arp(4)](/arp/4.md), [miibus(4)](/miibus/4.md), [netintro(4)](/netintro/4.md), [ng\_ether(4)](/ng_ether/4.md), [vlan(4)](/vlan/4.md), [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md) *DM&P Electronics Inc. Vortex86*, http://www.dmp.com.tw.

## HISTORY

The **vte** driver was written by Pyun YongHyeon ⟨*yongari@FreeBSD.org*⟩. It first appeared in FreeBSD 8.3.