Sending ethernet frames one after another

[Karel Kulhavy <clock@twibright.com>]

Hello

I have written a software to test connected optical datalink in loopback
mode which works by sending a burst of e. g. 1024 raw Ethernet frames
directly to that interface, then waiting a little bit, and counting from
ifconfig how many were received.

Some people report a problem that on their eepro100 in IBM Thinkpad, the
program (probably sendto) is returning error "No buffer space available".

Why doesn't the sendto block instead? Does it mean that I cannot use
this testing mode with that card? I need to send as fast as possible,
because it's necessary to constantly transmit, as the link must be
tested in load going in both directions simultaneously, to catch
possible crosstalks.

Or is that an error that should be handled by the application? In which
way, then?

Regards,

CL<