e1000

e1000 is a Linux kernel device driver for Intel PRO/1000 family Gigabit Ethernet adapters. It provides support for Intel NICs that use the PCI or PCI-X interface and is included in the Linux kernel as part of the standard networking stack. The driver enables Linux to initialize, configure, and operate Intel PRO/1000 Ethernet devices, exposing network interfaces to the system and integrating with the kernel networking subsystem.

Hardware support and features: The e1000 driver covers a wide range of Intel PRO/1000 NICs across generations, including older PCI-based controllers and various PCI-X variants. It implements common Ethernet features such as VLAN offloading, checksum offloads, and large/ TCP segmentation offloads, as well as interrupt moderation through NAPI to reduce CPU load. It also supports wake-on-LAN and power-management features where the hardware provides capability.

Usage and development: The e1000 driver is loaded as a kernel module named e1000 (via modprobe) or compiled directly into the kernel. It relies on the Linux kernel’s networking stack to handle channels, rings, and DMA. Intel maintains the driver in collaboration with the open-source community; its source is released under the GPL and is distributed with Linux. There is a related driver, e1000e, for newer PCIe-based PRO/1000 adapters, which handles devices not covered by the older PCI/PCI-X models. In practice, e1000 is a common default driver for Intel PRO/1000 NICs in many Linux distributions and is widely used in servers and virtualization environments.