Use the twisted pair connection with Cat-5 Ethernet wire at least. I used a WIFI extender to connect to my home WIFI Router.
You can use a TP-link or Cisco/Linksys WIFI extender with works fine with the 3C509

Also make sure you use the 3com configuration assistant software to setup your card to use the TP connection with Full-duplex.

It’s pretty easy to setup.

Disruptor wrote on 2023-10-07, 07:33:

Perhaps you mean IPX multiplayer. (IPX = Internetwork Packet Exchange) But this is not IP / UDP multiplayer. (IP = Internet Prot […]
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zconnect wrote on 2023-10-07, 03:37:

Why do you think I can't do online gaming on a 486? Plenty of games back then had online multiplayer, even on weaker CPUs.

Perhaps you mean IPX multiplayer. (IPX = Internetwork Packet Exchange)
But this is not IP / UDP multiplayer. (IP = Internet Protocol, UDP = User Datagram Protocol)

I think you mean the common IPX ODI protocol stack that was used by contemporary games.
LSL.COM + NETCARDDRIVER (NE2000.COM) + IPXODI.COM + NET.CFG

Kali is an external software. It is neither contemporary, nor part of those games.

I never said Kali was part of those games. My first link includes non IPX multiplayer. The next link includes IPX multiplayer because you can use DOS Kali to play IPX games online on a 486.

Your first link includes hot seat split screen games like Altered Beast 🤣

VivienM wrote on 2023-09-02, 17:23:

darry wrote on 2023-09-02, 16:31:

100Base-T on ISA is not that useful, from a performance point if view. They had a rather niche use-case at the time.

Fast Ethernet on ISA

Do those cards have any benefits in terms of playing nicer with modern switches, etc?

I would think compatibility and full duplex being properly supported is more important than any minor speed boost

zconnect wrote on 2023-10-07, 23:12:

I never said Kali was part of those games. My first link includes non IPX multiplayer. The next link includes IPX multiplayer because you can use DOS Kali to play IPX games online on a 486.

The next thing is how do these games deal with routers.

I'd say IPX don't care. They don't go over routers. They just have to be in the same network (IPX network number, defined in NET.CFG).
Same with IP/UDP games. They just find their clients within their network.

Both implementations of networking code use broadcast packets to find peers.

Supporting routers requires either special configuration (perhaps a dialog field to enter IP or IPX address) or server software (like battle.net 1.0 or FSGS until it was closed).
And of course routing has to be enabled.

rmay635703 wrote on 2023-10-08, 00:03:

I would think compatibility and full duplex being properly supported is more important than any minor speed boost

Agree ! Ok am going to be the Debbie Downer. There is basically no difference between those 3coms as long as the OS fully supports them. This is getting as bad as the CDROM driver topic where members whine about a 2k diff in a driver loaded 😁

Why can't this guy (or anyone) just want to have the best of X for his system without 20 people shitting on his thread asking why it matters and demanding he justify his desire?

I want the best network card because I want it. I want the best storage subsystem because I want it. Objectively almost none of what we do here matters anyway.

Saying "ISA NICs all perform within margin of error of each other so it doesn't matter" is a valid answer. Moaning about use case and other pseudo-practical questioning is folly.

DMA vs PIO is gonna matter a bit. Other factors not much.

I always thought the Intel Etherexpress Pro ISA cards were better than the 3Com 509's for using less cpu resources but only by a bit....

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-10-08, 03:07:

Saying "ISA NICs all perform within margin of error of each other so it doesn't matter" is a valid answer. Moaning about use case and other pseudo-practical questioning is folly.

It has been said many times already in the first replies of this thread.

Use case is important here, because OP apparently wanted NIC with as small CPU load as possible. This got me asking what is his use case where he thinks this matters, because I can't think of any other use case where high CPU load would apply other than file transfers because of saturated bandwidth. But it doesn't matter if it does, because you aren't doing anything else at the same time in any case. So, perhaps there is indeed some niche I don't understand so I was curious and that would perhaps help others to give correct advice so most suitable card could be indeed found. Apparently that use case is online gaming with 486, so yeah...

Indeed, correct answer more or less is "ISA NICs all perform within margin of error of each other so it doesn't matter". I have SMC and 3COM ISA 10baseT cards and have found no practical differences other than how you setup them, but performance differences between those are negligible.

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-10-07, 23:29:

Your first link includes hot seat split screen games like Altered Beast 🤣

Yes unfortunately, but it also includes more serious information.