Image: E-TONG eBay listing, via Nicolo Giuliani · Cavium CN6640-SNIC10E dual-port PCIe network card
A revived Cavium SmartNIC gains a Windows driver
A student used Claude to write most of a Windows driver and installer for a Cavium CN6640-SNIC10E, testing DHCP, ping and internet access on Windows 11 24H2.
Credits
- Build author Shiny1712 Source ↗
- Repository account nicologiuliani6 Source ↗
Earliest dated source: Details reviewed:
The full story
The Cavium CN6640-SNIC10E had already been revived as a dual-port Linux NIC using OpenWrt in RAM and a reverse-engineered PCIe BAR2 datapath. Its maker has now added an NDIS 6.20 Windows driver and installer, with most driver and installer code written by Claude.
The maker reports real-hardware tests on Windows 11 24H2 covering DHCP, ping and internet access. Windows 10 is a target rather than a tested platform, and no Windows throughput benchmark is given. The host reloads the card OS at power-on.
The driver is test-signed, so the setup requires test-signing and Secure Boot disabled. The Windows port of the initial serial provisioning step is untested, and heavy dual-port traffic can wedge the card and require a host reboot.
Before and after
- Starting problem
- The revived dual-port SmartNIC worked on Linux only.
- Reported result
- DHCP, ping and internet access tested on Windows 11, with signing and load limitations.
Device and compatibility
- Cavium CN6640-SNIC10E; Windows 11 24H2 tested · Windows 11 24H2
Windows 10/11 x64 is the target; Windows 10 is untested. Heavy dual-port load may wedge the card.
Source ↗
What you need
What Claude did
- Windows NDIS driver and installer implementationClaude Source ↗
Parts and cost
- Cavium CN6640-SNIC10E cardSource ↗US$15 reported by the maker for the card
How it was done
Tools
Themes
Loading themes…
Sources
From a short post by the maker, so the details are as they tell them.
- Reddit: The $15 Cavium SmartNIC I revived on Linux now runs on Windows too (NDIS driver, one-click installer
The maker's post describing the project and reported limitations.
- The code: github.comRepository account: nicologiuliani6
Linked in the post.