linux-drivers/
drivers/net/ethernet/amd

AMD Ethernet adapters: LANCE/PCnet, AMD8111, XGBE, and Pensando DPUs

A mixed collection of AMD Ethernet hardware spanning several generations: 1990s LANCE and PCnet ISA/PCI cards (still the default emulated NIC in VirtualBox and QEMU), AMD8111 and Au1000 integrated controllers from the early 2000s, the 10-Gigabit XGBE engine in AMD server SoCs, and the modern Pensando DPUs that AMD still sells as data-processing units in 2025.

keep-annotate conf=0.86 last_sold=2025 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=net category=networking-ethernet
86%

recommendation

Worth keeping but worth documenting that this directory is really two things bundled together. The XGBE and Pensando pieces cover hardware AMD still ships and sells new in 2025, and both saw active upstream work and stable backports through 2025-2026. The older LANCE/PCnet code is legacy silicon, but it is not abandoned either: pcnet32 still receives functional patches and remains the default emulated NIC in VirtualBox and QEMU, so it earns its place as a virtualization compatibility driver rather than as support for real cards anyone is buying new.

repository signals

53 files
41,705 source lines
213 commits, 5y
+6,337 / −4,831 lines added / removed, 5y
70 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 213 total · active in 51/61 months
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sources

  1. lore.kernel.org

    `pcnet32.c` still receives functional upstream work in 2026 (`ndo_set_rx_mode_async`), so the legacy PCI/VM-facing part of the directory is not abandoned.

  2. lore.kernel.org

    Recent cleanup targets obsolete subfeatures (`remove VLB support`) rather than removing the `pcnet32` driver outright.

  3. lore.kernel.org

    `amd-xgbe` still gets stable backports in 2026, indicating active maintenance for deployed systems.

  4. lore.kernel.org

    `pds_core` participates in ongoing devlink API work in 2025, showing the modern AMD/Pensando portion is active upstream.

  5. amd.com

    AMD markets Pensando DPUs as current front-end networking products, so hardware covered by this directory is still sold for new deployments.

  6. amd.com

    AMD stated Pensando Salina DPU availability was planned for the first half of 2025, supporting `last_widely_available_year = 2025`.

  7. virtualbox.org

    VirtualBox still documents PCNet FAST III as a supported adapter and notes it as the default for broad guest compatibility, indicating ongoing VM niche deployment.

  8. qemu.org

    QEMU continues to document emulated NICs generally, and companion QEMU machine docs still list PCnet adapters, supporting continued virtualization-era relevance.

  9. qemu.org

    Current QEMU PREP machine documentation explicitly lists PCnet network adapters, reinforcing that `pcnet32` remains useful for emulation/testing niches.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory is mixed: many legacy LANCE/PCnet-era drivers plus active `xgbe/` and `pds_core/` subdirs. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `pcnet32.c`, `xgbe/xgbe-main.c`, and `pds_core/main.c`; it showed active fixes/API work and no whole-driver removal thread, only scoped cleanup like VLB removal. Vendor/deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on AMD Pensando pages and current VirtualBox/QEMU docs. Conclusion: do not deprecate the whole directory; keep it, but annotate that much of the top-level LANCE-era hardware is legacy while modern XGBE/Pensando parts are still current.