I figure it is time for an update, though there's not all that much to say... Yet.

After numerous emails flapping about the globe, I finally determined that the SAS controler I have is not PCI compatible. Note to all you system builders out there, though the standard says PCI-X is backward compatible, most implementations are not.

So I emailed Via Technologies to ask them about PCI-X compatible boards - I'm so close that I would rather not start switching things out, and I freely admit that I think the Via Mini-ITX motherboard is sweet, so I'd like to use a similar product of thiers if I can't use the one I have.

And I could use the one I have, I mean I have several options, right? Use a different motherboard, use a different controler and set of disks, drop the project (yeah, right), or get a PCI controller that supports SAS.

There are no PCI SAS controllers that I can find.
I like the motherboard.
I like the Controller and its shiny new SAS disks.

So I wallowed for a day or two. I mean, I'm trying not to do too much of this on NWC's time because I took it on out-of-the-blue, and I have lots of other things going on after-hours, so I allowed the problem to slow this project while I worked on others.

Then I picked it back up, made some contacts, and one of the bright guys at Adaptec said "Hey, doesn't Via have a motherboard that supports PCIe? If they do, we can ship you a PCIe card."

That sounded promising, so I dropped a line to Via Tech to find out. As of now, I haven't heard back from them, but I'm hoping. It would be really cool to be able to use variants of the items I have. And Hey! PCIe is good ;-).

Until I have more,

Don.