Fujitso S720 Thin Client PCIe expansion

[Bruno_A]

Hello all,

 

I have purchased a Fujitsu S720 Thin Client that would work as a PFSense firewall. I kinda gave up on the idea, however, ever since it arrived, I was quite disappointed that it was not what I was expecting. For example, it has a small-form-factor PCIe bracket, which suggests you can add a PCIe card, however, there is no PCIe slot on the motherboard. There is something, however, some sort of slot, kinda like an M.2 slot, with the words "PCIe mCARD" printed on the board, however, it definitely isn't an M.2 slot, because as you can see in the picture, an M.2 SSD is smaller, in width, than the slot on the motherboard. Also, the storage on this machine, is a 16GB mSATA, and the slot it uses is exactely the same as the "PCIe mCARD". Does anyone know what kind of slot it is, and if it can be adapted to a normal PCIe slot, for a network card?

 

Photos:

Spoiler

 

 

[simson0606]

@Bruno_A

It is a mini pcie card slot, often used for wireless cards. There are normal network cards available though:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Syba-Ethernet-Controller-1000Mbps-RTL8168C/dp/B00B524102

 

Also, while the slot is physically compatible with msata, it will not recognise a msata ssd.

[Bruno_A]

37 minutes ago, simson0606 said:

@Bruno_A

It is a mini pcie card slot, often used for wireless cards. There are normal network cards available though:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Syba-Ethernet-Controller-1000Mbps-RTL8168C/dp/B00B524102

 

Also, while the slot is physically compatible with msata, it will not recognise a msata ssd.

I thought it could be that, but it isn’t. It’s slightly bigger than Mini PCIe. Here’s a comparison:

Spoiler

 

[Mark Kaine]

This is very curious, there are no mCard specifications anywhere to be found (seemingly) but I found a cable TV card that uses mCard slot... 

 

And several devices with pcie or otherwise mCard "sockets".

 

 

Maybe it's something like "fire wire" (lol remember those) and just not widely used? 

 

Still odd,  no wiki entry either as far I can tell. 

 

[simson0606]

15 hours ago, Bruno_A said:

I thought it could be that, but it isn’t. It’s slightly bigger than Mini PCIe. Here’s a comparison:

  Hide contents

 

The card you have there is a m2 key A wireless card, not a mini pcie card. m2 is slimmer than mini pcie. There even are adapters from mini pcie to m2 key A.

[Mark Kaine]

Ah I see so this would fit? 

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network/dp/B006VCPB2S

 

 

They're slogan is 

 

"hard to find made easy'  btw   

[simson0606]

8 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ah I see so this would fit? 

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network/dp/B006VCPB2S

 

 

They're slogan is 

 

"hard to find made easy'  btw   

Yup no problem, it's a similar card to what I linked. There are many others.

 

StarTech has many weird expansion cards which can come in handy.

[Bruno_A]

10 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ah I see so this would fit? 

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network/dp/B006VCPB2S

 

 

They're slogan is 

 

"hard to find made easy'  btw   

2 hours ago, simson0606 said:

Yup no problem, it's a similar card to what I linked. There are many others.

 

StarTech has many weird expansion cards which can come in handy.

Yes, that would fit, but wouldn't at the same time, as the case uses small-form-factor PCIe brackets. I'd need to get a Mini PCIe to PCIe slot adapter, and get an SFF ethernet card.

 

[simson0606]

1 minute ago, Bruno_A said:

Yes, that would fit, but wouldn't at the same time, as the case uses small-form-factor PCIe brackets. I'd need to get a Mini PCIe to PCIe slot adapter, and get an SFF ethernet card.

 

That startech card includes a low profile bracket.

[Bruno_A]

1 hour ago, simson0606 said:

That startech card includes a low profile bracket.

Hmm...I believe it is a low profile bracket, as in a one slot bracket, and not an SFF bracket.

[simson0606]

19 minutes ago, Bruno_A said:

Hmm...I believe it is a low profile bracket, as in a one slot bracket, and not an SFF bracket.

It is low profile as single slot half(ish) height.