Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC SCSI expansion cards
Supports a family of SCSI host adapter expansion cards built around the FAS216 and NCR53C9x controller chips, sold for Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC computers in the late 1980s and 1990s. Brands covered include Acorn's own AKA30/31, ARXE, Cumana, EESOX, PowerTec, and Oak, all tied to the now-defunct Acorn ARM platform.
recommendation
A candidate for future removal because the hardware it supports — SCSI expansion cards (Acorn, ARXE, Cumana, EESOX, PowerTec, Oak) for Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC machines — was last sold in the 1990s, and Acorn Computers itself was wound up in 1999. The code still gets occasional janitorial touches from the linux-scsi maintainers, but there is no sign of new users or feature work, so a deprecation period before removal is the cautious path.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
The directory still receives upstream maintenance touches; `drivers/scsi/arm/fas216.c` was included in a 2026 linux-scsi API-conversion series, indicating code is not fully abandoned.
- cateee.net
One supported target is the 'Acorn SCSI card (aka30)', defined in `drivers/scsi/arm/Kconfig`, tying this directory to Acorn-specific legacy hardware.
- cateee.net
Another supported target is 'ARXE SCSI support' for Acorn Archimedes-era hardware; LKDDb shows it remains buildable in current kernels.
- en.wikipedia.org
Acorn Archimedes systems were introduced in 1987 and the family was sold only until the mid-1990s, placing the supported host platform firmly in legacy status.
- en.wikipedia.org
Acorn Computers was effectively dismantled in 1999, reinforcing that this ecosystem is long obsolete and not a source of new mainstream deployments.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection of `drivers/scsi/arm/Kconfig` shows all selectable drivers depend on `ARCH_ACORN` and target Acorn-specific cards (Acorn/ARXE/Cumana/EESOX/PowerTec/Oak). `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/arm/fas216.c` returned 32 hits in the last 5 years, with recent tree/API maintenance from linux-scsi but no evidence gathered of active new-feature demand. Web search produced LKDDb pages for `SCSI_ACORNSCSI_3` and `SCSI_ARXESCSI`, plus Wikipedia pages for Acorn Archimedes and Acorn Computers; together these show the hardware platform is legacy, not sold new in 2025, and likely survives only in retro/industrial hobbyist deployments. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Acorn host adapters, so deprecate is safer than immediate removal.