PCMCIA to PCI Bridges

[Robert Hardy]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2001, Mike O'Connor wrote:
> Hi All
>
> I've seen some email which talk about PCI to PCMCIA adapters, but on real
> answers to which card would be supported.

I assume you mean PCMCIA to PCI bridges.

> 1. Which chip sets are supported by the last few Linux kernel ?
> 2. Which chip sets are supported by the last few PCMCIA-CS version ?

I don't have general information as to what works and what doesn't however I
can tell you a few specific instances which do work.

Here are a few links for Linux Friendly PCI PCMCIA bridges:
http://www.actiontec.com/support/readers/pc750.html#dl
http://www.psism.com/reader.htm
http://www.psism.com/pci_rear_reader.htm

I'm using the PC750 and it worked flawlessly under Linux 2.2 using an Lucent
Orinoco. Unless you need 2 slots you might as well get the single slot
Lucent card or another rear mounted card from the site above. The Actiontec
PC750 requires two IRQs (under Linux.) This may be fixed in more recent
tools but I had fun getting it to work originally until I got each
controller on their own unshared IRQs.

My friend has a bridge made by Lucent and it worked well. If you have a PCI
2.1 motherboard be certain to get a newer board which supports PCI 2.1 as
the earlier Lucent boards which require PCI2.2 will not work on a PCI 2.1
board. See www.wavelan.com for the Lucent boards (or whatever company has
bought wavelan now...)

> 3. If they are supported by the on of the above will most or all of the
> wavelan cards works ?
> and last but on least.

I have an orinoco card in mine. My friend is using a clone of the orinoco.
The clones are much slower to release firmware but are cheaper.

> 4. Were would I buy some of the supported card wholesale ?

You could try approaching the vendors above. It should be relatively easy to
find someone carrying the lucent products from their website. I got my two
Orinoco cards and my original PCI 2.2 card from TechData (www.techdata.com)
but was unimpressed with their "wholesale" price. It was cheaper for us to
order our next batch off the web.

Regards,
Rob

-- 
---------------------"Happiness is understanding."----------------------
Robert Hardy                                          C.E.O. Webcon Inc.
rhardy at webcon.net      GPG Key available by request       (613) 276-6206