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As the title suggests, can anyone make a custom board that connects via a pcie connector? Do you need to purchase the rights/license to use it or is it all open to the public? For example my use cases would be communicating with an fpga that's on a custom board as well as communication between two of said boards.

Drok_
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  • Just do it. You are just scared by licences. – Marko Buršič Nov 12 '18 at 23:28
  • `Do you need to purchase the rights/lciense to use it or is it open to the public?` I wasn't aware of someone "owning" PCIe architecture. Could you elaborate on this? –  Nov 12 '18 at 23:30
  • If I search for more info on pcie I come across this: https://pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/ which implies to me that there is a central 'owner' per say of the standard. Am I wrong to be thinking that? Another thing that's making me think that I need the right to use it is that I I require to sign up but signing up asks me to choose from a set list of companies. Edit: I'm just checking because I'm afraid that if I were to sell this board I could be in legal trouble with some much larger group due to my use of pcie. – Drok_ Nov 12 '18 at 23:35
  • What do you mean "make a device"? Do you mean custom ASIC, or else? Did you look into Xilinx FPGA offerings, https://www.xilinx.com/products/technology/pci-express.html ? Did you look into IDT, MosChip, Asix controllers? – Ale..chenski Nov 12 '18 at 23:57
  • Are we talking one-off for personal use, or commercial sale? If the latter you would need a vendor ID for your device. – Tom Carpenter Nov 13 '18 at 00:16
  • @Ale..chenski By device i mean either a card that fits into a connector or a board with connectors on it. As for those products a little yes. I was thinking that if I could just implement it on the fpga I would already be using that would make it a bit cheaper. TomCarpenter Chances are it'll only be for personal use but possibly commercial yes. If i understand correctly the vendor id is just for identifying the part yes? Or is it a legal thing too? – Drok_ Nov 13 '18 at 00:21
  • It's not a legal thing in the getting arrested sense. It's legal in the receiving cease and desist orders, or getting sued sense. **If you're little, no one will bother**. If you're big enough to bother about, getting a vendor ID won't be much of an expense for you. As pointed out, if you're implementing it in an FPGA, the FPGA manufacturer you're dealing with will have help for you. Go ahead and prototype now, worry about this detail later. – TimWescott Nov 13 '18 at 01:16
  • @TimWescott I never meant it in a jail-time sort of way but more of a cease and desist or sued kind of way. So if I'm understanding this correctly the only thing I will really need to more or less completely protect against someone taking legal action would be a vendor id? And would I need one of those for each card or just one which I can use for everyone. Also what is the case about a board that accepts the cards? Same deal with the vendor id? – Drok_ Nov 13 '18 at 01:20
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    That's getting into finer detail than I can remember for PCIe. If it's like USB a vendor ID is expensive, but a chip manufacturer (like Xilinx) will sell you a product ID under their vendor ID for cheap, because they want to sell chips. And again, if you're a hobbyist or you only sell ten a year or something, don't worry. – TimWescott Nov 13 '18 at 01:46
  • Ok so just a few more questions. I looked into a vendor id for PCI and it's $4000/yr but it seems reusable. So USB is also a payed vendor id? Is there any non-payed or at least significantly cheaper standards that are similar to PCIe. For example I would like the ability to not only talk to the main system but to other cards directly. Also what are the down sides to sharing a vendor id with Xilinx? – Drok_ Nov 13 '18 at 01:52

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You only absolutely need to pay money to PCI-SIG if you need your own vendor ID. If you’re using an FPGA, you can use the FPGA company’s vendor ID (for Xilinx, it’s 0x10EE).

Otherwise there’s no IP licensing to speak of. The specs are free download for PCI-SIG members, non-members pay a fee for them.

hacktastical
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  • But I need a vendor id of some sort correct, whether it's my own or the fpga company's? Or could I technically sell product without one without legal issues? – Drok_ Jul 09 '19 at 02:38
  • If you use a non-registered ID the kernel will just show as "unknown device", although it will still enumerate. Your custom driver can still find it in the device tree so not having an ID isn't a show-stopper for development. Typcially, you can use the Xilinx ID for their IP, and your own ID for subsystem ID, which does not have to be registered with PCI-SIG. In this way you can identify your own implementation from someone else's. – hacktastical Jul 09 '19 at 03:03
  • Thanks I'll have a look into that. – Drok_ Jul 09 '19 at 03:05