ExpressCard SATA-II interface
 

Hi, does anyone know if any or all of these would be expected to work in Linux?

linkage to Newegg

If so, would they work with the standard in-kernel SATA drivers or some additional module (hopefully GPL)?

Thanks!

Hmm. Just had a quick look at the site. Does not look like it. The only OS mentioned are MS Winslows. Not even Mac is mentioned in OS's supported. Don't like your chances just yet. They may be yet another example of the corporate stand over of MS, and quite possibly another one of those "dumb" items that need some of the work to be done by the OS in the CPU, much like the old problem with "winmodems, winprinters, etc." that did not have the full brain box needed for true functionality.
This may not be the case, but looks like it at first glance. Maybe you could email the manufacturer and beat them into submission (figuratively of course), to produce the full range of OS drivers.
Similar problem recently, Canon USB printer, no Linux drivers produced by Canon. they make some very good computers, that only run on a variation of Linux, but, they do not build Linux drivers for their peripheral hardware. As the Americans say, go figure that one out.

Shorty943.

Well maybe, maybe not. I think the question is whether these devices appear to the operating system as any plain old SATA controller would, or if there is something else that has to go on to use the ExpressCard interface.

If I understand ExpressCard correctly, it uses the PCI Express interface *or* USB 2.0, depending on the card. I assume this kind of card would use PCIe. And Linux supports PCIe devices, correct?

So it seems like they *should* work. But I'd really like someone to confirm that before I buy one, plus a big hard drive, plus an enclosure!

I emailed SIIG's tech support yesterday to ask this, but haven't heard back from them yet.

BTW, I google'd quite a bit and could not find anyone else who has apparently even tried them under Linux. That is surprising. Think of what you would get if they worked: You could use cheap fast desktop SATA-II drives (300MB/sec), 7200RPM, hundreds of gigabytes. Got to be much faster than USB2 drives.

Why isn't anyone else clamoring for this?

Here is one that claims to support Linux.
http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_...oducts_id/1753

Rather more expensive than the others though ...
And I'd be interested to know the state of its driver -- in kernel, need to compile it separately, or (horror of horrors) closed source?

Apparently talking to myself here, but it might help anyone in the future searching for this kind of thing.

According to my research and best guess, this card should be well supported with in-kernel drivers:
http://www.addonics.com/products/hos...adexc34-2e.asp
It uses the Sil 3132 over a PCI Express interface, and from what I can tell that chip is supported by sata_sil24 driver.

It's still a little bit of a risk, because I have yet to find anyone who has actually tried it, but I'm convinced enough that I'll probably go ahead and order one. I'll report back here after the fact. (Note that it will be at least a month before I get it ... I'm currently overseas.)

Pci express slots are replacing the carbus slots on modern laptops that have pci express only connections in them. My newest laptop that i bought in November of 06 has no carbus slots and only a pciexpress slot. these are very new so i dont expect drivers to be created for linux untill they are common in all new laptops.

exvor,

I think what you mean is ExpressCard, which can use a PCI Express interface. PCI Express isn't all that new, it's been used in motherboards for graphics and AFAIK supported by Linux for a while.

Unless ExpressCard is a secret, closed "standard" it's got to be supported in Linux by now.

Hi,

I'm planing to buy such an adapter in the future, so it would be nice if you could post your experience if you bought one.

btw: If they say supported by windows it doesn't mean that there is no support for linux but they only provide windows drivers. Maybe the card uses the same controller than on some mainboards, in this case there is a better chance to get it running under linux.

regard
jakommo

yes i meant expresscard but I couldn't remember the term at the time.

UPDATE:

I am now the proud owner of this laptop:
http://powernotebooks.com/specs/PowerPro/a2-38.php

It has a built in eSATA port so there was no need to buy an expresscard version. I also purchased this hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822152052
and this eSATA/USB2 enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817198003

and I'm happy to say that everything works great!

The performance is also quite impressive.

hdparm -t on the internal drive (5400RPM 160GB) gave me 41MB/sec. Over the eSATA connection, I get 83MB/sec!!!

I've tried it in Knoppix 5.1 and Kubuntu Feisty Herd 5. Was absolutely plug and play in both cases. Didn't have to mess with anything at all.