Recently, as part of my effort to port an unsupported OS to Udoo x86, I had to debug that OS's e1000 driver, which is used for the Intel 82540EM ethernet chip in VirtualBox (upgrading from 10Mps to 1000Mps saves me time transferring image files). I have also spent time examining that OS's support for Realtek ethernet chips. I find the level of documentation of Intel to be vastly superior to Realtek. Realtek's "open source" driver for FreeBSD includes black box code for configuring the card, i.e., lots of writing object code into memory locations, with no explanation of what it does (I have not looked at their Linux driver, because GPL). In comparison, Intel's documentation is 410 pages long and documents not only the specifics but the design philosophy. It is quite possible to write a driver from scratch with the Intel documentation. In light of this, I make the suggestion that future revisions of the Udoo x86 board switch to the Intel 825xx chipset. It would be fully compatible with VirtualBox and very well documented, a key component to true "open hardware" efforts. It may cost a bit more, but in my opinion, the benefits would exceed those costs. Thank you.
