The network card(s) I have in bulk are the Encore Gigabit (9.99) from
Newegg. I checked out that these were indeed Universal 32-bit, so it's
definite that they'll fit in the Sun Blades. I just wanted to install
these for the CARP/pfsync interface.

I just started freaking out before because I had some old PCI sound
card which was just 5V and then after looking at the Sun Manual to see
that the majority of the slots are 3.3V. In either case, the cards
should work. Great! Thank god for Universal PCI!!

Vivek

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 1:35 PM, ropers <ropers@gmail.com> wrote:
quoted text
> 2008/10/15 Vivek Ayer <vivek.ayer@gmail.com>:
>> Are you sure they can fit in the slots? Wikipedia shows two voltage
>> types for PCI cards: 3.3V and 5V which have different configurations.
>> Regular 32-bit PCI network cards use 5  V signaling, which is what
>> more computers have. I'll have to check and see what the Blades have.
>> They may be able to support both types.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> From the English Wikipedia Peripheral Component Interconnect page that
> you yourself quoted:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PCI_Keying.png
>
> It's simple:
>
> 1. The voltage considerations are identical for the conventional 32bit
> and the new 64bit PCI slots.
>
> 2. You can use 32bit PCI cards of a given voltage in the corresponding
> 64bit slots of the same voltage (on the same row in the above
> graphic). 64bit slots are backwards compatible.
>
> Hence:
>
> - You can use 3.3V 32bit PCI cards in 3.3V 32bit PCI slots and in 3.3V
> 64bit PCI slots.
> - You can use 5V 32bit PCI cards in 5V 32bit PCI slots and in 5V 64bit
> PCI slots.
> - You can use universal 32bit PCI cards in 3.3V and 5V 32bit PCI slots
> as well as in 3.3V and 5V 64bit PCI slots.
> (Personally, I've never even ever run across anything else but 5V PCI
> cards and slots. Probably because I've never owned a Soekris.)
>
> I don't know if it is possible to use --surrounding physical space
> permitting-- 64bit cards in 32 bit slots (and have them run w/ reduced
> performance). IIRC, something like that used to be possible back when
> it came to the transition from 8bit ISA to 16bit ISA slots; back then,
> some 16bit ISA cards could be used in 8bit slots at reduced speeds.
> Whether something like that is possible now with 64bit PCI cards I
> don't know. Maybe someone else knows.
>
> Thanks and regards,
> --ropers