Those are just 64-bit PCI slots.  Again, there is nothing Sun-specific
about it.  And yes, you can use 32-bit cards in 64-bit slots.

-- 
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de

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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.

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 10:54 AM, Christian Weisgerber

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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

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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


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I'm pretty sure that your average pile of pci cards has way more 3.3v
capable cards than 5v-only ones. wwwway more.

-- 
Henning Brauer, hb@bsws.de, henning@openbsd.org
BS Web Services, http://bsws.de
Full-Service ISP - Secure Hosting, Mail and DNS Services
Dedicated Servers, Rootservers, Application Hosting - Hamburg & Amsterdam

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Of course it depends on the design of the specific card, but yes, at 
least *some* 64-bit cards can be used in 32-bit slots. I've seen early 
64-bit PCI SCSI controller cards that were built this way.

--
JCR

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Not that I would recommend them anymore,
but the D-Link DGE-550T/SX (64bit/66MHz) worked in an Asus P4P800-VM
(PCI 32bit) for me (with OpenBSD of course).
I think it depends on the card __and__ the mainboard if it works or not.

guido

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The board's PCI slot has to be molded to support it. If not, a dremmel
and a little precision will permit the card to sit in the slot with no
problems.

Shave a few mm off the PCI slot's side, don't cut the card.
.


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