ethernet card as a square wave generator???

[tiger]

I have 2 questions.

I have 1Gbps ethernet card.
(1)If i can rewrite ethernet device driver for OS, can i use the
ethernet card as square waveform generator(signal generator)???


(2)If it is possible, How fast can i send square waveform? I mean what
frequency?
I know "1Gbps" do not actually mean "1Ghz". then 1Gbps card has
maximum what frequency?

 

[Jon Slaughter]

I have 2 questions.

I have 1Gbps ethernet card.
(1)If i can rewrite ethernet device driver for OS, can i use the
ethernet card as square waveform generator(signal generator)???


(2)If it is possible, How fast can i send square waveform? I mean what
frequency?
I know "1Gbps" do not actually mean "1Ghz". then 1Gbps card has
maximum what frequency?

I doubt you can do this directly because I don't think you can assess the
physical layer. (if you can then its a piece of cake)

I doubt you also have control of the clock frequency(I imagine it's fixed)
and your not going to be able to send data in such a way to get a clock.

If no one else has any more knowledge about it then the first thing to do is
look at the chips used on such cards and try and get their datasheet(or just
go to some sites and get datasheets for chips). There might be some
information on the chip and how you can use it for such a thing... or not...

Seems like a strange way to go about getting such a thing though...

 

[whit3rd]

I have 2 questions.

I have 1Gbps ethernet card.
(1)If i can rewrite ethernet device driver for OS, can i use the
ethernet card as square waveform generator(signal generator)???

(2)If it is possible, How fast can i send square waveform? I mean what
frequency?
I know "1Gbps" do not actually mean "1Ghz". then 1Gbps card has
maximum what frequency?

There are multiple 1G Ethernet standards (fiber channel and optical
fiber) but usually one speaks of 1000baseT type, with four twisted
pairs.
That signal is five-level (not binary, i.e. two-level, at all).
Signal rate on
each of the pairs is 100 MHz, just like in 100baseT. A cycle of
a square wave has TWO transitions, so 50 MHz is the upper limit.

 

[Jasen Betts]

I have 2 questions.

I have 1Gbps ethernet card.
(1)If i can rewrite ethernet device driver for OS, can i use the
ethernet card as square waveform generator(signal generator)???

Maybe, you may need to load new firmware into some of the chips on the
card....

(2)If it is possible, How fast can i send square waveform? I mean what
frequency?
I know "1Gbps" do not actually mean "1Ghz". then 1Gbps card has
maximum what frequency?

http://www.10gea.org/GEA1000BASET1197_rev-wp.pdf

the signal rate is 125Mbaud so max frequency is half that. (67.5Mhz)
I can't say how square they will be.

Bye.
Jasen