Intel 82575/82576/82580, I350, and I210/I211 gigabit Ethernet controllers
Intel's mainstream gigabit Ethernet controller family covering the 82575/82576/82580 server NICs from the late 2000s through the long-lived I350 quad-port server adapters and the I210/I211 single-port chips widely embedded on motherboards, industrial PCs, network appliances, and edge servers.
recommendation
It should stay because the hardware is still actively sold by Intel in 2025, with the I350-AM4 not slated for discontinuation until 2031 and the I210-IT not until 2035, and the driver continues to receive substantive upstream fixes (including commits in March 2025 and 2026). These chips remain ubiquitous on server boards, embedded systems, and network appliances, so removal would break a very large installed base.
repository signals
sources
- intel.com
Intel still lists I210-IT as launched, with expected discontinuance in 1H'35, indicating new-sale availability well past 2025.
- intel.com
Intel still lists I350-AM4 as launched, with expected discontinuance in 1H'31, supporting continued new deployments of igb-supported parts.
- intel.com
Intel's current Ethernet catalog still includes I350 and I210 series, showing the family remains an actively marketed product line.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_IGB present through current kernel series and tied to many PCI IDs in igb_main.c, indicating broad ongoing upstream support.
- git.kernel.org
A March 12, 2026 igb bugfix commit shows active maintenance rather than removal.
- git.kernel.org
A March 19, 2025 igb interrupt-handling fix further shows recent substantive upstream attention.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: module entrypoints and PCI ID table in igb_main.c cover 82575/82576/82580, I350, I210/I211. Lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` failed because `lei` is not installed in this environment, so I fell back to local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) and local `git log`; git.kernel commit URLs were then formed from those commit hashes by canonical recall of kernel.org commit URL format. Intel and LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search. Evidence points to active upstream fixes in 2025-2026, no removal signal found, and hardware family members still sold/newly deployable in embedded, industrial, appliance, and some server/edge contexts, so this should be kept rather than deprecated.