DEC and SysKonnect FDDI network adapters
Drivers for 100 Mbps FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) network cards from the 1990s, including DEC's DEFTA/DEFEA/DEFPA boards on TURBOchannel, EISA, and PCI, the DEC FDDIcontroller 700, and SysKonnect SK-55xx/SK-58xx PCI adapters. FDDI was a fiber-optic LAN technology used in workstation and server backbones before fast and gigabit Ethernet displaced it.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting as legacy because the hardware is long obsolete and FDDI itself has been superseded by Ethernet, yet the code still receives occasional small fixes upstream (a defxx memory-allocation fix in 2026 and minor skfp maintenance in 2024). Removing it would orphan the few remaining users of these DEC and SysKonnect cards with no in-tree replacement, so the pragmatic call is to leave it in place while flagging it as a legacy niche with vanishingly small deployment today.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
`drivers/net/fddi/defxx.c` still received a device-specific fix in 2026 ('FDDI: defxx: Rate-limit memory allocation errors'), indicating some upstream maintenance rather than abandonment.
- lore.kernel.org
`drivers/net/fddi/skfp/skfddi.c` was touched in 2024 by a small maintenance patch, consistent with low-level tree upkeep rather than feature work.
- cateee.net
`defxx` supports Digital DEFTA/DEFEA/DEFPA FDDI adapters on TC/EISA/PCI, i.e. legacy bus hardware from older workstation/server eras.
- cateee.net
`defza` targets DEC FDDIcontroller 700/700-C on TURBOchannel, another clearly legacy platform niche.
- cateee.net
`skfp` supports SysKonnect SK-55xx/SK-58xx FDDI PCI adapters; LKDDb shows the directory is for old FDDI PCI cards rather than any modern virtual or common commodity NIC.
- techtarget.com
FDDI as a networking technology has been largely superseded by newer networking technologies, supporting the conclusion that new deployments are now rare.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local `rg` inspection showed three real drivers in this directory (`defxx`, `defza`, `skfp`) for DEC/SysKonnect FDDI adapters. `lore_file_timeline` showed ongoing but sparse maintenance, including a 2026 device-specific `defxx` fix and small 2024 `skfp` maintenance, so removal is too aggressive. LKDDb pages were found via web search and confirm the hardware targets are legacy DEC TC/EISA/PCI and SysKonnect FDDI cards. TechTarget was found via web search and used only for the broad obsolescence of FDDI. Recommendation is to keep the code but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware with low present-day deployment and no natural in-tree replacement for the same devices.