@Doridian The above super post shows a #Meshtastic node inside a #ThinkPad #T420s #laptop and uses a #PCB designed using #EasyEDA to connect an #ESP32S3S3 with an #SX1262 chip using #USB pins of #MiniPCIe slot intended for #modem #LoRa Would allow for a #reticulum #rnode too I guess. Lovely work.
How cool is that !

@liliputing why doesn't one of these #minipc makers just build one that's a little longer so it's the same size as the #GPU and use the space for a bunch of #miniPciE slots with a nice cooling solution?

#hardware #computers #technology

How can one retro-fit a #USBA port to a 10 year old #thinkpad when the #minipcie internal USB port card device (see link below) is not on the #lenovo #whitelist e.g. of a #thinkpad_x230
BTW the #usb port is for then fitting a #lora #rnode or #meshtastic #note inside the #laptop case. This video shows the problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRrUMra7it0
#bios
This is the device in question:
https://www.reichelt.de/de/de/shop/produkt/mini_pcie_1x_intern_usb_2_0_typ-a-354619
Thanks for an help on this!

Ich habe 15 alte digitale #MiniDV VideoKassetten kopiert.
Weil der Kameraakku schrott ist und die Übertragung fehlerhaft mit dem normalen Netzteil ist, wird die Kamera mit heruntergespanntem 8 Volt Gleichstrom aus einer Starterbatterie versorgt. Der original Akku muss eingesetzt bleiben, sonst beschwert sich die Kamera dass kein "#InfoLithium" Schaltkreis verbaut ist.
Die WLan Karte im Laptop hab ich mit einem #MiniPCIE zu #PCIE Konverter ersetzt, darin steckt extern die #FireWire Karte.

@AlanyG21 @fuchsiii @foone Eeyupp...

There are basically passive adapters since #ExpressCard is just #PCIe 1.1-2.0 + #USB 2.0 or a hot-plug capable, external variant of #MiniPCIe aka. #MiniCard.

And OFC there are adaptors for that...
https://www.ebay.de/itm/284266383567

This Laptop Gets All The PCIe Devices

#computerhacks #laptopshacks #egpu #expresscard #externalgraphicscard #minipciexpress #minipcie #pciexpress #pcie #videocard #hackaday
posted by pod_feeder_v2

This Laptop Gets All The PCIe Devices

Did you ever feel like your laptop's GPU was sub-optimal, or perhaps that your laptop could use a SAS controller? [Rob Rogers] felt like that too, so now he has the only Dell Latitude business-class laptop that's paired with an AMD RX580 GPU - and more. Made possible because of a PCIe link he hijacked from the WiFi card, he managed to get a SAS controller, a USB 3.0 expansion card, the aforementioned GPU and a dual-port server network adapter, all in a single, desk-top setup, as the video demonstrates.

First off, we see a PCIe packet switch board based on a PLX-made chip, wrapped in blue tape, splitting a single PCIe x1 link into eight. The traditional USB 3.0 cables carry the downstream x1 links to the four PCIe cards connected, all laid out on [Rob]'s desk. [Rob] demonstrates that all of the cards indeed function correctly - the SAS controller connected to a server backplane with whole 22 TB of storage in it, a few devices plugged into a USB 3.0 card, an Ethernet cable with an active link in the network card, and wrapping up the video showing 3DMark results of the RX580 clearly paired with the laptop's mobile CPU. There's four more spots on the PCIe switch card, so if you wanted to connect a few NVMe SSDs without the costly USB enclosures that usually entails, you absolutely could!

Now, there's a reason why we don't see more of such hacks. This seems to be a Latitude E5440 and the card is plugged into a mini-PCIe slot, which means the entire contraption is bound by a single PCI-E Gen2 x1 link, heavily offsetting the gains you'd get from an external GPU when, say, gaming. However, when it comes to the types and amount of peripherals, this is unbeatable - if you want to add an external GPU, high-speed networking and a SAS controller to the same computer that you usually lug around, there isn't really a dock station you can buy for that!

Our collection of cool PCIe hacks has been growing, with hackers adding external GPUs through ExpressCard and mini PCIe alike, fitting PCIe slots where the factory refused to provide one, and extending the onboard M.2 slots for full-size PCIe cards. Nowadays, with these packet switches, it's easy as ever to outfit any PCIe capable device with a whole slew of features - as this Raspberry Pi Computer Module motherboard with eleven PCIe slots demonstrates. Wonder how PCIe works, and why all of that is possible? We've written an entire article on that!

#computerhacks #laptopshacks #egpu #expresscard #externalgraphicscard #minipciexpress #minipcie #pciexpress #pcie #videocard