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Possible to buy alternate mpcie/daughterboard?

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 2:14 am
by srslydude
I have the Fitlet-X-LAN. From what I can tell, the only difference between it and the Fitlet-i is the mini pcie card with 3 LANs vs the mini pcie card with the LAN + WiFi + eSATA. Would Fit PC consider selling the mini pcie cards so we could convert our boxes from what model to another? That would be really cool! I tried e-mailing customer support about this but they never replied. :(

Re: Possible to buy alternate mpcie/daughterboard?

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 11:32 am
by irads
fitlet-I functionality is not by a FACET card but implemented on the motherboard. So the answer is that it would not be possible to convert fitlet-X to fitlet-i.

I am quite sure your inquiry has been answered, maybe from a different email address. Please check your spam filter and send me a private message with your email details. I will check that.

Re: Possible to buy alternate mpcie/daughterboard?

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:44 pm
by Arwen
In theory, a third party could create and manufacture a FACET card with the
same functions as a fitlet-i. Meaning a FACET card with the following;
  • Pass USB 2.0 through
  • An eSATA chip, (1 lane PCIe)
  • Pass power through for eSATAp
  • Dual band WiFi chip, (1 lane PCIe)
  • 1Gbps Ethernet chip, (1 lane PCIe)
  • Side panel with the appropriate connectors
Then an end user, or retailer, could re-configure a fitlet-X as needed.

Unfortunantly due to miniture size, the FACET connector and cards only have
3 lanes of PCIe 2.x. So the eSATA port would be limited to a little less than
SATA III speeds, (about 5Gbps). And getting all those chips on a FACET card
might not be possible today.

In the case of the fitlet-i and fitlet-iA10, they get their eSATA port from the SoC,
so it's full speed SATA III, 6Gbps.

Of course, with custom FACET cards many other combinations are possible.
Like leaving off the Dual band WiFi and using 2 lanes of PCIe for a dual port
eSATA chip.