Re: [Qemu-devel] Re: [PATCH 1/1] Make the e1000 the default network adapter for the pc target.

[Avi Kivity <avi@redhat.com>]

On 08/25/2009 11:20 PM, Bjørn Mork wrote:
> Avi Kivity<avi@redhat.com>  writes:
>    
>> On 08/25/2009 04:23 PM, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
>>
>>      
>>> I use e1000 with win xp, although win xp has no driver at all for the
>>> e1000 and requires you to download the intel driver and install that.
>>> The intel driver also made win 2003 work before even though the microsoft
>>> supplied driver did not work.
>>>        
>> Ok.  IMO it's important for networking to work out of the box, so we
>> should avoid e1000 as default.
>>      
> I don't think you can buy a new PC with a NIC supported out of the box
> by Windows XP.

rtl8139 works out of the box.

> That doesn't seem to bother the PC manufacturers...
>    

I'm sure it bothers users.

> The e1000 works very well in Windows XP, given that you install the
> driver from Intel.  And e1000 is certainly more common and better
> supported than ne2k in more *modern* OSes.
>
> I fully agree with Anthony:
>   "the average user is better served with an e1000 vs ne2k."
>
> But this of course boils down to a discussion about who the average user
> is.  Anyone having any statistics on that?
>
> Anyway, most people will know that they may need driver disks when
> installing ancient OSes on modern computers.  With QEMU they even have
> the option to change the hardware with a flip of a command line.
>
> The ne2k default is misleading.  A common assumption is that developers
> know best, and that you need a good reason to change their defaults.
> This may trick people into thinking that the ne2k is the best NIC choice
> for QEMU. And I think everyone here agrees that it is not anymore.
>    

The best choice for Windows XP is virtio, but we sure won't be making 
that the default.  Given that e1000 gives 0 Mb/sec out of the box, I 
think it's clear that rtl8139 is better.  If people are interested in 
performance, they can change the default and download a driver (e1000 or 
virtio).

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