<p>Erm... correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds as though your definition of a "normal user" has a couple of problems. You assume the user won't try to look up via Google what Jim said to try to better understand it. Using the same logic, doesn't it then follow that this "normal user" wouldn't have a need for eth-tool/mii-tool in the first place?</p>
<p>I think you underestimate his abilities. He's using ethtool, which means he's savvy enough to have learned about that tool is the first place, and he's mentioning that it is "lying" from which we can glean that he has at least some technical strengths to deduce that much with. Would it not follow, then, that he also has the ability to learn more about the ioctl calls that Jim referred to?</p>
<p>Besides, simply dumbing down the information is less helpful to all involved as it clouds the root cause of the problem. Jim did, after all, provide context in his reply as to what those ioctls were for.</p>
<p><blockquote type="cite">On Jul 8, 2010 4:02 AM, "Nate Duehr" <<a href="mailto:nate@natetech.com" target="_blank">nate@natetech.com</a>> wrote:<br><br><p><font color="#500050"><br>On Jul 7, 2010, at 5:16 PM, Jim Ockers wrote:<br>
<br>> Does your NIC driver support SIOCGMIIPHY ioctls or...</font></p>Yeah, 'cause that's something a normal user of an OS is supposed to know... LOL!<br>
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Nate Duehr<br>
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