Additional USB controllers for a laptop expresscard to PCI-slots

[Franz]

What do you think, will something like this be able to add more usb controllers to a laptop?

https://www.integrate-computer.de/Exsys-EX-1015-ExpressCard-Bus-to-4-x-PCI-Slot-compact-Expansion-Box

This is reported to be linux compatible.

The idea is to add  a USB keyboard to a laptop using a PCI USB controller, perhaps using another  slot for an audio card or whatever.

Having a separate keyboard will also allow to add an external monitor, making home use more comfortable for eye strain now that e-ink monitors are getting available.

But may Qubes architecture be able to assign these additional cards to specific VMs even if they are connected by an Expresscard?

[awokd]

Franz:

If that adapter registers as a PCIe-PCI bridge and the PCI cards as
endpoints, it might work. Might depend on your laptop hardware and
firmware too. Probably only way to know is to try it.

[Tai...@gmx.com]

No it won't.

Expresscard > PCI-e

PCI anything WILL NOT WORK - ALL IN SAME IOMMU GROUP.

Save money buy one marketed for egpu gaming for $100 or so from bplus
tech taiwan - expresscard>pci-e then buy a Sonnet Allegro Pro which is 4
separate USB controllers which will work fine AS LONG AS YOUR LAPTOPS
ROOT PORTS SUPPORT ACS otherwise it won't work they will all be the same
group. I have no idea what laptops do however.

If you want 4 external laptop PCI-e slots via EC for other stuff or what
not there is one made by amfeltec, but it will probably cost a bunch.

[Franz]

On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 12:42 AM Tai...@gmx.com <Tai...@gmx.com> wrote:

No it won't.

Expresscard > PCI-e

PCI anything WILL NOT WORK - ALL IN SAME IOMMU GROUP.

Save money buy one marketed for egpu gaming for $100 or so from bplus
tech taiwan - expresscard>pci-e then buy a Sonnet Allegro Pro which is 4
separate USB controllers which will work fine AS LONG AS YOUR LAPTOPS
ROOT PORTS SUPPORT ACS otherwise it won't work they will all be the same
group. I have no idea what laptops do however.

It seems my processor i7 3520m does not support ACS. So this should mean that even if I use 4 different PCI cards, in the best case scenario they can only be assigned to the same VM.

On the same laptop Lenovo x230 a similar problem was that it has two native USB controllers, but there is some connection between them so that they can only be assigned to the same VM.

So thanks for help to avoid spending money and effort for nothing.

[unman]

Not in my experience with x230. Three controllers, and you can separate
ports on Left and Right between two usbVM.

[Franz]

with 3.2 or 4?

I tried various times with 3.2 and it replies something like that it does not want to do that because the two controllers are somehow connected and therefore there is a security risk isolating them when they are not really isolated.

But of course you understand all that much better than me Unman :-)

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[Unman]

Blind leading the blind, I'm afraid.

This is with 4. I'll try it with 3.2.1 in the morning.

[awokd]

Unman:

@taiidan- I based that from some code I saw in Xen that seemed to
support classic PCI passthrough. See also the last entry on this page
for example: https://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_PCI_Passthrough. Agree it's
not the most secure approach with Qubes, if it works at all.

@franz- I think the warning you were getting on 3.2 was caused by strict
reset mode. 4.0 disables strict reset by default in sys-usb, IIRC. So
you might want to go ahead and try it by following the 3.2 no
strict-reset section in
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/assigning-devices/#pci-passthrough-issues.

[Franz]

Interesting thanks

[Tai...@gmx.com]

All of the controllers all be in the same IOMMU group in that case due
to a PCI bridge so pointless for what he wants aka separate usb controllers.