1999: Farallon Communications have upgraded the driver for their Fast EtherTX-10/100, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet card for CardBus-enabled PowerBooks. (Note: Lombard has built-in 10/100 Mbps).

The new version 2.0 Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus driver for PowerBooks increases networking performance up to 69% over version 1.3. With optimized performance, users can take full advantage of the hardware and operating system advances in CardBus-equipped PowerBooks and get the same 32-bit PCI bus performance found in desktop computers for transferring files over the network. The 10/100 CardBus adapter also ships with Windows 95/98 and NT drivers.

Farallon’s Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus adapter allows WallStreet users to take advantage of the same high-speed 32-bit PCI bus performance found in Lombard and desktop computers. Connect to a Fast Ethernet network and get 10 times more bandwidth than traditional 10 Mbps Ethernet. The Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus adapter allows for up to 200 Mbps file server connections when used in conjunction with 10/100 switches such as the Farallon Starlet Switch.

Farallon’s Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus Adapter features:

• Exclusive Timbuktu Express file acceleration software included
• 10 times the network bandwidth of 10 Mbps Ethernet
• N-way auto-negotiation automatically selects 10/100 and full/half duplex
• Diagnostic LEDs for at-a-glance 10/100 and Link/Activity monitoring
• Based on high performance DEC Fast Ethernet controller chip
• Up to 69% performance improvement with optimized 2.0 Macintosh driver (Windows 95/98 and NT drivers also included for cross-platform support)
• 32-bit PCI-bus performance for maximum throughput
• Full-duplex support for network connections up to 200 Mbps
• 100% compatibility with Ethernet software network analyzers such as EtherPeek
• Support for leading networking software and protocols including MacOS, Windows 95, Windows NT, NetWare, AppleShare, TCP/IP, AppleTalk, IPX and Open Transport.
• Farallon’s CardBus technology extends battery life by consuming only 3.3 Volts – approximately half the power required by the older PC Card-16 standard.
• free technical support & lifetime warranty

Farallon says it worked closely with The AG Group to ensure 100% driver compatibility with software network analyzers such as EtherPeek. Mahboud Zabetian, President and CEO of AG Group states, “We put the Farallon 10/100 CardBus 2.0 driver through its paces during the final stages of development of our newly-released, optimized EtherPeek 4 for Macintosh packet analysis software. Farallon’s new 2.0 CardBus driver and EtherPeek transform PowerBooks into an ideal portable Ethernet analyzer solution. In all of our benchmarks, the Farallon card and driver provided excellent performance, enabling EtherPeek to keep up with all packets even on loaded 100 Mbps networks.”

Every Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus adapter comes bundled with Timbuktu Express file acceleration software. Optimized for large file transfers, Timbuktu Express can transfer files up to 450% faster than a Mac OS Finder copy to an AppleShare IP server. Timbuktu Express is ideal for prepress, desktop publishing, graphic arts and other “power users” who frequently move large files over the network.

Pricing and Availability

Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus
Now Shipping
PN995-TX
US Estimated Street Price $179.95

The updated 2.0 driver for Farallon’s Fast EtherTX-10/100 CardBus adapter can be downloaded free of charge via Farallon’s worldwide web serve. The new driver is optimized for Mac OS 8.6, but is also supported on computers running Mac OS 7.5.3 or higher.