Wondering about the expressCard slot.

[cultOfThinkpad]

I'm rather interested in the expressCard slot which I removed from my W500.
I took it off to harden my system, so that attackers can't somehow compromise it through this slot
but, lately, I was interested in buying a USB extension card for it and simply epoxying it to the slot
so nobody can remove it.

Who knows if I need more USB ports?

So I just have a couple of questions.


I know there are two types of expressCard slots which are expressCard/54 and /34.
Well, mine seems to have two very slim slots. The top one has a wedge whereas the bottom one doesn't.

What can anyone tell me about this?

Thanks.

[dr_st]

One of them (I believe it is the top one when installed in laptop) is ExpressCard (PCI-Express x1), the other one is CardBus/PC Card (PCI 32-bit).

[cultOfThinkpad]

I see. Well, I'm looking to use OpenBSD as my daily driver.
I took a look at a good USB 3.0 extension card but learned that BSD doesn't support it.

Any other ideas for what kinda devices to use in these slots or is expressCard just bust?

[axur-delmeria]

There's an NVMe SSD adapter : https://thinkmods.store/collections/all ... me-adapter

[unixed]

You can put a USB 2.0 expresscard adapter in it. It will work with BSD. The USB ports on your W500 are flaky and liable to break just with regular usage.

[cultOfThinkpad]

Hi. It's been a long time since I started this thread.
So I've been looking up Cardbus devices and, if anyone's correct that I can only fit an ExpressCard and CardBus device (not two ExpressCard ones), I'm thinking of using a USB 2.0 CardBus card and a ThinkMods ExpressCard-to-NVMe adapter.

But I realize the devices for either slots tend to have these huge bulging ends that stick out of the slots where you can plug your peripherals in. Would my proposed set up be feasible? Anyone ever tried?

[cultOfThinkpad]

Actually, while we're at it, I also notice that some ExpressCard and CardBus devices come with driver CDs for Windows.
Will they work with Linux straight out of the box without the need to install any drivers?

[axur-delmeria]

Actually, while we're at it, I also notice that some ExpressCard and CardBus devices come with driver CDs for Windows.
Will they work with Linux straight out of the box without the need to install any drivers?

With regards to Linux support in general (not restricted to Cardbus and/or Expresscard):

If you're lucky, the device is supported by the Linux kernel without needing to do anything.

Some have drivers in the kernel, but require firmware files to be loaded. Most mainstream Linux distributions include them in the default install, so it's becoming less of an issue.

If luck isn't on your side, you'll have to compile the driver yourself. Sometimes, it's just a matter of installing a package (the package manager does the heavy lifting). Worse case if you have to actually search for it all over the net.

The absolute worst case is that some devices don't have Linux drivers at all.

For Expresscard USB 3.0 adapters, the AFAIK the kernel has them.
Cardbus WiFi esp. the older ones are hit-or-miss.