Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys by Cisco LNE100TX EtherFast 10/100 LAN Card

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

Linksys is a leader in networking for good reason. I first got this card because of my new cable internet connection. Even if you are a novice computer user with no experience in computer hardware you can install this card youself! The directions are very good with step by step instructions that are easy to read for anyone. Once you have it installed the driver instructions are also easy to read and offer them for Any operating system you can think of. If you are running windows xp (or thinking of upgrading) you don't even need to install the drivers yourself because they are built into windowsxp and it will install itself making instulation that much easier! They also have a nice webpage that further explains troubleshooting if you get into a problem for some reason! Don't go pay some store 50-100 bucks to install a network card you can do it yourself in 20 mintues for nothing and Linksys makes it possible at a very good price!

Also, after having the card installed for over a year it has never gave me any problems whatsoever! I wish i could say that about some other hardware that i have purchased!

I recently picked up two of these cards to hang two systems off of a cable modem. The installation couldn't have been easier. Just plug the card in and install the drivers. Windows (ME) had no problem recognizing the card on either machine. Once the cable modem was installed everything worked like a charm.

Two words of warning:
- The directions are very complete, but don't include specific directions for Windows ME. I doubt this would trip anybody up and the Windows 98 directions are certainly good enough.

- The drivers available on the Linksys website require you to know information that is only available on the card. If for some reason your box doesn't have a driver disk (one of mine didn't), make sure to download the correct driver set before installing the card.

Picked this up at a local store and glad I didn't pay more for another brand. I got it for my dad who's finally going DSL. Installation was a breeze in his Win98 system. The package already comes with the latest drivers for the various flavors of Win95 and Win98, and if you use WinXP, the OS already has the drive for this card built-in, so it's pure plug-n-play. Just install the card in a PCI slot, turn on your computer, and maybe install the driver (depending on the OS version), and you are all set. Compatible with DSL and cable modems. This is one excellent value.

(There's a wire for the "wake-on-LAN" feature. I don't have a LAN, so don't know if it actually works.)

This network adapter provides good performance and an excellent price and should adequately serve the networking needs of most users. However, I had a few stability issues in one system after installing this card. Moreover, it doesn't offer the extra performance, management features, and support of a premium NIC, although such frills should not be expected at this price level.

I used two of these NICs (chipset version 4.1) for a home network and found their performance satisfactory. Installation was simple, and the manual was clear and descriptive. Functional Windows 9x drivers were loaded from the included diskette, and the latest drivers are available on the Linksys website. Unfortunately, the included diagnostic program works only when the system is booted in MS-DOS; it does not work within Windows. This limitation could become an inconvenience when troubleshooting network problems, especially in an OS that does not have a true MS-DOS mode, such as Windows NT/2000 or Linux.

Also, I encountered some stability problems after installing this NIC in an IBM Aptiva with a SIS chipset. Occasionally I would get the blue screen of death (BSOD) in Windows 98 after performing some network file transfers with another PC. The BSODs would usually refer to an conflict in a VxD, which usually means a device driver issue. Although the BSODs were not frequent enough to drive me to madness, they were annoying.

I've used pricier NICs from networking giants 3Com and Intel, and they offer niceties like reduced CPU utilization, hardware packet encryption, and Windows-based configuration and diagnostic programs. You may also get better tech support from these companies, although I fortunately don't have the experience to confirm this. However, unless you are a network administrator or power user, you would probably not appreciate or use these benefits enough to justify the significant price differential, and you would thus do well to buy the Linksys LNE100TX or similar low-price NICs. Just don't expect peak performance or premium features from a NIC when you're paying peanuts for it.

Compare with: Netgear FA312, SMC 1255TX, D-Link DFE-530TX+
Pricier alternatives: 3Com 3C905C-TX-M, Intel Pro/100 S

I got a couple of the LNE100TX cards along with the Linksys Network in a box product a year ago. I had no problems using it under Windows 98. But to get it to work in Red Hat 6.2 I had to recompile the Tulip dirver using the latest source code (not the source that came with the card). They work fine under Red Hat 7.0 too using the tulip drivers that came with the OS. I just got another one of these a couple of weeks ago thinking it would work fine on another computer with Linux. Turns out they changed the controller chip on this card. It now uses the same controller as Linksys' Network Everywhere brand. The drivers that came with the card did not work with Windows 98, but I had another set of drivers for the Network Everywhere brand which worked fine. It worked fine under Windows 2000 also. I have yet to get it to work under Red Hat 7.0 though. No amount of recompiling of the Tulip driver has made it work yet, but I think Red Hat may be partially responsible for that. To summarize my review: Linksys keeps changing the chip in the card every year so beware if you use Linux. Their website shows 6 different drivers for one model. They ought to change the model number everytime they change the chip.

I have a number of other Linksys products (router, wireless access point and the PCMCIA wireless card), and like them all... except this card. After multiple calls to customer support and a number of attempts to upgrade the drivers from their website, I finally gave up and bought a Netgear card (which installed and worked in under 15 minutes).

I have four identical computers at the office connected through a 10-T HP High end hub. I have been using NIC cards for 5 years. This card is slow, and locks the mouse up, and 'dissapears' from the hub link. The computers are PIII 700's w/128M. I took it out, and replaced it with a Netgear and worked perfectly. To see if it was the Linksys, I tested different hubs, and the Linksys card in the other computers; same problem. It's a horrible card or drivers! ie. The stuttering makes it impossible to play LAN lunch games!

If you have any of the Window OS (i.e 95/98/ME/2000), this card will work great, i bought 3 of them, two for a 98 and an ME, installing was quicky, all you have to do is put them in and install the driver, it work great with window. If you have a linux box, becareful, the card claim it work with any major Linux os but my personal experience was different, i have a box with Redhat 6.2, linksys gave me a driver with the tulip.o driver, first, i have to compiled the tulip among various other C++ file, but one of the file ask for a "special switch" during compilation which Linksys didn't mention anything about, after that, i went to their website, and linksys have four different driver for this card, the reason is the chipset on the card, some of the chipset was make by Linksys, other was make by Digital or other manufacture, after download the new driver, and couple day with it, it work, but it is such a hassle. Get this card if you use Window, if you use a linux machine, you may want to try 3COM card or SMC card instead

I have 3 LinkSys cards in my home network. The price was right and they have worked without a hitch. Installation was as easy as any network card under Windows 98 SE. Compatible with my VIA and Ali chipset motherboards. Use with their 5 port hub or switch (hub with uplink port).

I bought and installed this card with (relatively) little hassle. I'd never even opened up my computer before, but the card plugged in easily and I was feeling pretty cocky. When I started up my machine, I had to walk through the "new hardware" installation wizard *three* times before the card was properly recognized (probably not the card's fault... ). Then the real problems began. I chatted with no fewer than five tech support people at my ISP because although my DSL was up and running, neither Netscape nor IE5 was able to find the network. Finally, one guy thought to ask which brand of ethernet card I had. When I said Linksys, he said, "Oh, no." Turns out they've had at least three other people who couldn't get these cards to function properly with Win98. I don't know who to hate more--Linksys or Microsoft.

By the way, my ISP guy recommended Netgear or 3Comm as the best ethernet cards to buy.