USB 2.0 PCI Card

[santner]

I would like to add a USB 2.0 PCI card to my system, however I am a little concerned about adding any pci card after learning about 'winmodems'. Is it safe to assume that any USB 2.0 PCI card will work with linux, or do I need to do some strenous research to ensure compatibility? :lol:

[pmpatrick]

It should work. The easiest way would be to install the card and then boot of install cd-1 and do an "upgrade" install selecting no new packages. Your new card should be detected and set up correctly.

 

Here's the issues and why doing an upgrade install is easiest. There are two driver modules for usb1.x, uhci and ohci. Intel and via chipsets use uhci and most pci cards need ohci as they typically do not use intel or via chipsets. Usb 2.0 uses the ehci driver module but the correct usb1.x module must also be loaded for it to work. You are probably set up to load the uhci driver module now. The automatic hardware detection would probably pick up the new hardware when you rebooted with it, but I can't be sure. The upgrade install would undoubtedly pick it up and make the necessary configuration changes to load the appropriate drivers for your new card.

 

This isn't like a winmodem situation. Winmodems use the cpu and windows software to perform the modem functions. I've never heard of a usb pci card that does this; everything for usb is processed on the hardware in the card.

[santner]

Very helpful reply. Thank you for the information. That's what I was looking for. :D