Magma Mobility Electronics has released software enabling its CardBus-to-PCI adapters to be used with Linux. The adapters enable full-length 32- or 64-bit PCI cards to be connected to systems through a Type II PCMCIA slot. They target medical imaging, video processing, mil/aero, industrial control/automation, audio editing, and other applications.

(Click for larger view of 2-slot CardBus-to-PCI adapter)

Magma's adapters are available in 1-, 2- and 4-slot models, with enclosures available for either full- or half-length cards. The 1-slot adapter includes a DC-DC adapter for quiet operation from a user-supplied 12-volt power source. The 4-slot model includes the option of a silent 275-watt power supply. The 2- and 4-slot models include drive bays for 1-inch and 1-inch and 5.25-inch removable drives, respectively.

PCI cards that use only Prefetch Space or that use 4K or less of Memory Space can be used in the adapters under Linux after first building and running a user-space “enable_bridges” application available as source code from Magma. Cards that use IO Space, or that use more than 4K of Memory space, require users to build a custom 2.6.5 kernel, after applying patches available from Magma. PCI card memory usage can be tested by installing the card and typing lspci -vvvs XXX, where XXX is the card's bus number.

More detailed instructions are available in the Readme file included with Magma's Linux download package.

Magma officially supports Red Hat Linux 9, and is working to enable its PCI-to-PCMCIA adapters to be used with Linux, as well.

 
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