Current version: 1.0.19 1.0.15 (as of 2018-12-10)
Realtek GBE USB
- Gigabit ethernet
- USB hub
- Launch
System Preferences
->Network
- See
USB 10/100/1000 LAN
- https://i.imgur.com/Bm7D0Ld.png (mirror)
- https://i.imgur.com/wcMZFh8.png (mirror)
- Launch
System Information
(also known asSystem Profiler
) ->Hardware
->USB
- https://i.imgur.com/NJi9yC4.png (mirror)
- Launch
System Information
(also known asSystem Profiler
) ->Software
->Extensions
- https://i.imgur.com/64QCxxS.png (mirror)
- Launch a terminal/shell
ioreg -p IOUSB -w0
ioreg -p IOUSB -w0 -l
: For more info
+-o Root <class IORegistryEntry, id 0x100000100, retain 14>
+-o Root Hub Simulation Simulation@14000000 <class AppleUSBRootHubDevice, id 0x1000002fa, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (6 ms), retain 13>
+-o USB2.0 Hub @14100000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x1000002fb, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (43 ms), retain 14>
+-o Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad@14400000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x1000002ff, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (96 ms), retain 22>
+-o USB3.0 Hub @14500000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000363, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (54 ms), retain 15>
| +-o USB 10/100/1000 LAN@14540000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000418, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (73 ms), retain 18>
+-o Bluetooth USB Host Controller@14300000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x1000003d8, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (58 ms), retain 24>
Terminal output snippet from `ioreg -p IOUSB -w0 -l`
+-o USB3.0 Hub @14500000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000363, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (54 ms), retain 15>
| | {
| | "sessionID" = 2480892594
| | "iManufacturer" = 1
| | "bNumConfigurations" = 1
| | "idProduct" = 2066
| | "bcdDevice" = 37009
| | "Bus Power Available" = 900
| | "USB Address" = 5
| | "bMaxPacketSize0" = 9
| | "iProduct" = 2
| | "iSerialNumber" = 0
| | "bDeviceClass" = 9
| | "Built-In" = No
| | "locationID" = 340787200
| | "bDeviceSubClass" = 0
| | "bcdUSB" = 768
| | "USB Product Name" = "USB3.0 Hub "
| | "PortNum" = 5
| | "non-removable" = "no"
| | "IOCFPlugInTypes" = {"9dc7b780-9ec0-11d4-a54f-000a27052861"="IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBLib.bundle"}
| | "bDeviceProtocol" = 3
| | "IOUserClientClass" = "IOUSBDeviceUserClientV2"
| | "IOPowerManagement" = {"DevicePowerState"=0,"CurrentPowerState"=3,"CapabilityFlags"=65536,"MaxPowerState"=4,"DriverPowerState"=3}
| | "Device Speed" = 3
| | "USB Vendor Name" = "VIA Labs, Inc. "
| | "idVendor" = 8457
| | "IOGeneralInterest" = "IOCommand is not serializable"
| | "IOClassNameOverride" = "IOUSBDevice"
| | }
| |
| +-o USB 10/100/1000 LAN@14540000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000418, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (73 ms), retain 18>
| {
| "sessionID" = 3379212797
| "iManufacturer" = 1
| "bNumConfigurations" = 2
| "idProduct" = 33107
| "bcdDevice" = 12288
| "Bus Power Available" = 900
| "USB Address" = 8
| "bMaxPacketSize0" = 9
| "iProduct" = 2
| "iSerialNumber" = 3
| "bDeviceClass" = 0
| "Built-In" = No
| "locationID" = 341049344
| "bDeviceSubClass" = 0
| "bcdUSB" = 768
| "USB Product Name" = "USB 10/100/1000 LAN"
| "PortNum" = 4
| "non-removable" = "no"
| "IOCFPlugInTypes" = {"9dc7b780-9ec0-11d4-a54f-000a27052861"="IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBLib.bundle"}
| "bDeviceProtocol" = 0
| "IOUserClientClass" = "IOUSBDeviceUserClientV2"
| "IOPowerManagement" = {"ChildrenPowerState"=4,"DevicePowerState"=0,"CurrentPowerState"=4,"CapabilityFlags"=32768,"MaxPowerState"=4,"DriverPowerState"=4}
| "Device Speed" = 3
| "USB Vendor Name" = "Realtek"
| "idVendor" = 3034
| "IOGeneralInterest" = "IOCommand is not serializable"
| "USB Serial Number" = "002427FE48F6"
| "IOClassNameOverride" = "IOUSBDevice"
| }
|
- Launch a terminal/shell
ifconfig
en4: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
options=2b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,TSO4>
ether 00:24:27:fe:48:f6
inet 192.168.1.135 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>)
status: active
The driver is located at
/System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleRTL815X*.kext
/Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815X*.kext
Here are the namespaces:
com.realtek.driver.AppleRTL815XEthernet
com.realtek.driver.AppleRTL815XComposite
See http://osxdaily.com/2015/06/24/load-unload-kernel-extensions-mac-os-x/
With normal operation with only the network cable plugged in, I only see com.realtek.driver.AppleRTL815XEthernet
loaded.
# Unload
sudo kextunload /Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815XEthernet109.kext
sudo kextunload /Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815XComposite109.kext
# Load
sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815XEthernet109.kext
sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815XComposite109.kext
# Find if loaded
kextstat | grep com.realtek.driver.AppleRTL815XEthernet
kextstat | grep com.realtek.driver.AppleRTL815XComposite
Perhaps clear the Kernel cache
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches
I got a new USB ethernet adapter because the old one had lots of issues (hence the gist in the first place). But it still uses the same Realtek 8153 chip although am using the native driver though now, AppleUSBECM.kext
In terms of my previous issues, I remember that when I clicked the little lock in the browser to view the cert, it would crash my computer. But the disconnects that required a restart were the bigger issue. (personal reference link)
I'm currently running macOS Mojave 10.14
@halfbrilliant Let's start off with a disclaimer: I'm a Linux Kernel / Android networking developer working on (among other things) tethering and NCM. I used to use macs, but that was quite a while ago, long before M1. The only Mac I currently have is a 2013-ish 27" iMac - and it is running Windows 10.
How do you want to plug it in? USB? Thunderbolt? don't care?
What speed do you need? 100mbps? gigabit? 2.5gbps? 5gbps? 10gbps? more?
In general none of the offloads are truly required for decent performance at 'just' low multi-gigabit speeds.
Sure, things like checksum offload and TSO are certainly useful, but they're only really needed at truly high speeds, and not at what mortals have available for internet access (yeah even 10gbps isn't really impressive nowadays, in a datacenter environment one can hit ~100gbps on a single tcp stream).
Additionally offloads are notoriously buggy (usually it's driver problems, sometimes it's a hardware or firmware issue)... for example the aforementioned iMac running Win10 has to have TSO disabled on the wired gigabit ethernet port, or tcp upload transfer is garbage (<20mbps) and needs to have transmit checksum offload disabled or (bridged) WSL fails to DHCP. I'm guessing these are 'just' software bugs (the latter in Window's WSL/bridge implementation)... but all I can do is disable the offloads to make things work.
NCM (which in the current spec has no offloads whatsoever) could do ~3.5gbps between a Linux laptop and a Pixel 6 Android phone (around 3 years ago when I worked on this). With a little optimization it could hit 7gbps.
The only true requirement is that the driver is not in userspace (copying all the data back and forth across the kernel/userspace divide is extremely cpu wasteful). This 'userspace driver' issue is apparently what the issue is with performance on Macs.
Personally I'd recommend a 2.5gbps USB-C dongle from StarTech (that should either use Mac's built in generic NCM driver, or an offload capable hardware specific driver). I've had good experiences with them, but there's usually cheaper variants available out there...
(Side note: don't bother with 5gbps Ethernet USB dongles, I'm not aware of anything that can go past ~3.45gbps due to usb3.0 limitations [USB3 is 5gbps, but it's 8b10b coded, which means it's really 4gbps usable, and there's further protocol overheads]. All currently [well at least ~2 years ago] available usb-ethernet converter chips are just usb3.0, so the dongles are expensive and run hot)