PCMCIA USB 3.0 support

joboy · 10-12-2011, 08:47 AM

Hi there,

I am running Ubuntu on a ThinkPad X220i, it has a PC card slot, I got an USB 3.0 expresscard, so I insert the card to the notebook via a Cardbus to Expresscard adapter. The card doesn't seem to sit in the contacts and the system does not recognize it, which I've an USB hard disk connected to it. I then insert the expresscard alone without adapter, the USB hard disk light is on, but Ubuntu doesn't recognize it, I don't know first, if Ubuntu recognize the card, and secondly whether USB 3.0 is supported, any idea ?

jefro · 10-12-2011, 04:37 PM

I get the feeling some of the older pcmcia stuff has been removed like cardctrl.

Also some of the cardbus slots are behind a pci to pci bridge and may take a bit more doing. It would be best to test this with an older 32 bit pc card I'd think that is well tested or known to ubuntu.

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/....4freebsd.html
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/...n4/card.4.html

See at the bottom of this. https://help.ubuntu.com/6.06/book/bo...lProblems.html

See where we get.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/12139...upport-usb-3-0

joboy · 10-13-2011, 03:18 AM

Thanks for the tips !

bardavide · 08-05-2015, 01:35 PM

Hi, I'm interested in this thread.
I would buy this: USB 3.0 Super Speed 'PCMCIA Express Card 54 mm on eBay or another PCMCIA recommended by you.
On my laptop I only Linux Mint 17.2.
Before buying the PCMCIA I would be sure that it works and that there are Linux drivers.
Thank you

jefro · 08-06-2015, 03:38 PM

Hello and welcome to LQ.

Unless we know more we can't even begin to guess. Technically the Express Card and PCMCIA are just different enough to be misleading.

Some help on these pages maybe.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ExpressCard_slot

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ExpressCard

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-lin...presscard-34mm Of course you'd have to get some gizmo to mate 54 and 34.

bardavide · 08-07-2015, 11:51 AM

Hello, sorry my mistake.

I forgot to specify the model but I still found it was not compatible.

While it appears that this PCMCIA card "CSL - Card USB 3.0 Super Speed PCMCIA Express Card (54mm / 2 Port / compatible with Windows 7 + Windows 8) Notebook Laptop | USB Hub internal" for sale on Amazon is now recognized by Linux Kernel 3 +.

You confirmations?

Thank you again

jefro · 08-07-2015, 02:58 PM

Amazon ought to accept a return if it doesn't suit you.

If the seller says supported in Linux kernel 3 it generally means you can a good chance of getting it to work. Since almost no one tests a laptop with linux and all the associated add on's no one can guarantee it works.

I suspect it will work under some distro for sure.

In some cases the phrase kernel 3.x may in fact mean native support on stock kernel without any intervention.