Right, been having a similar lack of success on two different machines with a networking card that should (in theory) work. The network card is a Belkin F5D5010, a Cardbus card, which apparently is Realtek 8139 based.

Have two laptops that I have been using for my experiments.

First was an old IBM Thinkpad 40E. Basically, that would work, but as soon as you inserted the Belkin, the whole thing would lock up. This is regardless of whether you do it before booting up, or while the OS is running. Gave up on that because it wasn't a great laptop anyway.

Next was an Acer Ferrari 3400. Nice machine, works well after you disable all the Radeon stuff. Doesn't crash if you shove the card in while the OS is running -- but doesn't do anything either. Neither does it work if the card is inserted at boot time. Naturally the Ferrari's internal Broadcom wired network adapter doesn't work either.

I had already searched the arse off these forums looking for a simple recommendation for a pcmcia/cardbus type WIRED card. Couldn't for the life of me find anything, everyone seemed so preoccupied with wireless, which is why I ended up going for the Belkin based on the HCL saying Realtek 8139s worked. Am I the only one who DOESN'T want wireless? Have seen several other people with Ferraris but, again, they all seem happy with just the wireless working. Wireless is no use to me.

It is all a matter of drivers, with PCMCIA you'll need two drivers, one for the PCMCIA chipset (TI) and the other for the network chipset. Getting both to work is hard.

Apparently OSX86 works with most USB chipsets so that is not a problem, therefore people go with USB wireless and the choices there are only two:
Broadcom/Airport and Ralink.

Maybe I'm overcomplicating this then if USB is such a snip.

Again, I've searched as much as I could but couldn't find a simple answer -- what USB WIRED network solutions work under OSx86?

There is none, AFAIK:

I have tested the Hawking HUF11, a Realtek based wired USB-ethernet.

As suggested by the 2nd url below, it does not work, recognized in USB, but not as a network adapter.


Start here:
http://www.sustworks.com/site/news_usb_ethernet.html


USB Network Adaptor Driver
Brand Model USB Pegasus AX8817X
3COM 3C460B 1.1 x
Belkin F5D5050 1.1 x
D-Link DSB-650 1.1 x
D-Link DSB-650TX 1.1 x
D-Link DUB-E100 2.0 x
D-Link DUN-E100 2.0 x
Farallon Netline PN796-650 1.1 x
Kingston KNU101TX 1.1 x
LinkSys USB10TX 1.1 x
LinkSys USB100TX 1.1 x
LinkSys USB200M 2.0 x
NetGear FA120 2.0 x

http://www.sustworks.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...thernetAdaptors


Realtek 8150 Devices Not Supported

USB 1.1 devices based on the Realtek 8150 chipset are not suppored by these drivers. These devices will usually show a product id of 33104 (which in HEX is 8150).

Devices based on the Realtek 8150 chip include:
Hawking Technology - HUF11
BAFO - BAFO BF-310 USB To Ethernet Adapter
NetComm - USB LAN Key
Linksys - Etherfast 10/100 Compact USB network adapter (USB100M)
Billionton - USBKR100 USB 10/100 LAN Adapter

Getting these devices to work would involve writing a whole new driver. I have no plans to write a driver for these devices at this time. However, the datasheet for the Realtek 8150 chip is publicly available on the web if anyone wishes to write their own driver.