DaveDDS wrote on 2025-09-13, 10:52:

DosBox does have NE2000 emulation implemented in it's code, it just turned off.

No, it doesn't and it never did. It would have to be a patch made by a third-party.

So just to recap, all you had to do was set the MAC address to something via the driver?

If it was sending everything with a MAC address of FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF that would explain a lot of problems ...

Perhaps so .. I thought I saw mention of it in the original DosBox sources/site.. but it has beenn many years since I looked at the original stuff...

mbbrutman wrote on 2025-09-13, 20:15:

So just to recap, all you had to do was set the MAC address to something via the driver?

If it was sending everything with a MAC address of FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF that would explain a lot of problems ...

Yes, that seems to have been the case. And it stems from what appears to be failing/faulty NVRAM and/or VPD ram/or EEPROM settings.

Looks as if the NIC has partially failed or corrupted those areas and lost (at least) the MAC address.

There are means to reprogram the NIC, but it relies on firmware specific to the part, which doesn't seem to be (widely) available.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-09-11, 16:00:

^@DaveDDS Thank you for sharing your memories! ^^

Thnaks - us "old guys" always like to rember "what it was like"

Personally, I grew up with an 8-Bit computer ...

Sorry, didn't really notice this "first time around"... In sharing
experiences:

I did my time an 8-bit systems.

My first ever were a couple of homebuilt 8080 based machines. One of these
eventually got "storage" in the form of 5" solinoid controlled reel-to-reel
tape drives (decommisioned by UNB languate-lab). Here I wrote my first O.S.
a TOS (Tape Operating System)

My first commercial system was an Altair 8800 (8080 CPU, eventually upgraded
to 62k RAM and diskettes - First 5.25" drives, SA-400s, 35track) It had North
Star DOS - SSSD controller - a whopping 90k/disk. Here I wrote my first DOS -
DMF (Device Management Facility - can you tell I was working on 70s IBM
mainframes at the time). (btw not 500kbps - 250.. and SD made it effectively 120)

I had a NorthStar Horizon (Z80), a MIL MOD-8 (8008) and a few other 8-bit
commercial systems along the way. Also PET, VIC20, C64, TI99-4 and others
you can see most of these an "Daves Old Computers".

At one point I "fell in love" with the Motorola 6809 - IMHO the most powerful
8-bit CPU ever made.. I built several systems, incl. my first "portable". Here
I wrote CUBIX - my first "real" OS (interestingly I also wrote SIM80 my first
emulator which let me run my Altair 8080 software on the 6809).

Sometime in the 80s I made a homebuilt 8088, then "discovered" the PC and
never really looked back (Still have a few 6809 based controllers)

Later I wrote emulators for my exact systems, you can experience what it was
like to use my: Altair, Horizon, D6809 and MOD-8!
These were 16-bit, written for DOS but run well in DosBox or any of the
DOS system emulators.

Btw - if anyone wants to here more of my "ramblins of tha past", there's more on my site,
just click on my name.