[c-nsp] Why hard-setting speed and duplex on Fast Ethernet is bad

[John Neiberger]

> I wouldn't. I have a 2924XL-EN in service as a workstation switch; all
> ports auto. It's seen all kinds of printers, homebrew x86, HP, Dell,
> Apple, one SPARCstation, and other hardware I've forgotten about. The
> one time I remember having to force a port (10/full) was with a CRT iMac
> that generated excessive CRC errors at 100 half or full.
>
> ~Seth

Interestingly, it happens that the old XL switches are the kind that
would still participate in autonegotiation even if you hard set the
speed and duplex. I wish Cisco had stuck to that behavior. Their
current behavior makes no sense to me.