Davicom DM9000 and DM9051 10/100 Mbps Ethernet controllers
Two small Davicom Fast Ethernet chips popular in embedded boards: the DM9000, a parallel-bus 10/100 MAC/PHY commonly wired to ARM SoCs and older ISA-style designs since the late 2000s, and the newer DM9051, an SPI-attached MAC/PHY widely used with microcontrollers such as Espressif's ESP32 to add wired Ethernet to IoT and industrial devices.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting its niche, because both chips are still actively maintained in the kernel (a use-after-free fix landed for DM9000 in March 2025 and a module-autoloading fix for DM9051 in August 2024) and the DM9051 in particular is still being sold new and promoted by Espressif as a current Ethernet option for embedded projects. The DM9000 side is clearly legacy — its datasheet dates back to 2009 — but it remains in use on older embedded boards, so the directory deserves a note clarifying which part is current and which is legacy rather than any removal action.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
`dm9000.c` received a real bug fix in March 2025 (`fix UAF in dm9000_drv_remove`), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment.
- lore.kernel.org
`dm9051.c` received a targeted functional fix in August 2024 (`fix module autoloading`), showing current upstream attention.
- dacomwest.de
DM9051 was still being marketed as a current SPI-to-Ethernet controller product page when crawled in 2026, supporting that the hardware remained sold new in/after 2025.
- components.espressif.com
Espressif published a current DM9051 component package in 2026, which is strong evidence of present embedded deployments and ecosystem relevance.
- alldatasheet.com
DM9000 documentation describes an older general-processor/ISA-style Fast Ethernet controller from a 2009 datasheet, consistent with legacy rather than new-design usage.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows DM9051 support present in current kernel series through HEAD, confirming it is an actively carried in-tree driver.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not a removal candidate. Local source inspection (`rg`/`sed`) showed two live drivers: `dm9000` and `dm9051`. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on each .c file: dm9000 had a March 2025 UAF fix and dm9051 had a 2024 autoloading fix, with no confirmed removal/deprecation thread. Web search provided product/deployment evidence: Dacom West still lists DM9051 as a current product, Espressif ships a fresh DM9051 component in 2026, while DM9000 looks legacy from its older datasheet. Overall this directory covers niche embedded/industrial hardware that is still extant but not broadly deployed, so keep the driver and annotate its niche/legacy status rather than deprecate or remove.