[LAU] firewire-thunderbolt adapter?

David Kastrup dak at gnu.org
Wed Oct 4 06:43:17 UTC 2017


Paul Davis <paul-dDzkXPnfpdxaomM2pvQuqZqQE7yCjDx5 at public.gmane.org>
writes:

> as a clarification, perhaps: thunderbolt, in essence, is just a way to
> "export" the PCI(x) bus to outside the chassis, with safe
> hot-plugging.

Firewire Expresscards are basically using one PCIx lane: there are PCIx
cards for desktop computers accepting Expresscards that basically just
put the wires through (and aren't good at hotplugging).  They may or may
not also have a USB receptable in order to provide a USB port to the
Expresscard (Expresscards can choose whether to talk via PCIx or USB:
WWAN cards and most card readers use USB, Firewire adapters generally
use PCIx).

So if your statement is correct, I'd speculate on a
"thunderbolt-to-Expresscard" adapter also being just wiring and
consequently not requiring additional driver support.  If that were the
case, this could be a way to use an existing Expresscard Firewire
adapter (and thus drivers with some expectation of working) with a
modern laptop.

-- 
David Kastrup


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