Symbios/LSI 53C8XX and 53C10XX PCI parallel SCSI host adapters
A family of PCI parallel-SCSI host bus adapter chips originally from NCR, then Symbios Logic, and finally LSI Logic, widely used on servers and workstations from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The same silicon (notably the LSI53C895A) is still emulated by QEMU as a guest SCSI controller, so Linux VMs sometimes load this driver even when no physical card is present.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting its niche. The physical cards are long out of production and real-world deployments are dwindling, but the driver still received upstream cleanup and API updates in late 2025, and QEMU continues to emulate the LSI53C895A and explicitly recommends this driver for Linux guests. That ongoing virtualization use case, plus active maintenance attention from contributors like Bart Van Assche, justifies leaving it in place rather than deprecating it.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
The driver still receives upstream build/API maintenance in 2026, so it is not abandoned.
- lore.kernel.org
Recent 2025 work touched this driver for code cleanup, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal.
- cateee.net
Upstream Kconfig still ships CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX_2 and the supported device IDs are old PCI SCSI controllers in the NCR/Symbios/LSI 53C8XX/53C10XX family.
- docs.kernel.org
Kernel documentation describes this as support for SYM53C8XX-family PCI SCSI controllers and a subset of LSI53C10XX controllers, i.e. legacy parallel SCSI hardware.
- qemu.org
QEMU still exposes an LSI53C895A PCI SCSI HBA and explicitly recommends CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX_2 for Linux guests, showing a continuing virtualization niche.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
`sym_glue.c` header identifies the hardware family as SYMBIOS/LSI 53C8XX and 53C1010 PCI SCSI controllers (local shell read of driver file). `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/sym53c8xx_2/sym_glue.c` showed 2025-2026 traffic, including Bart Van Assche API updates and 2025 cleanup patches; that supports keep/annotate rather than deprecate. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned zero matches, so I treated that as a directory-granularity blind spot, not evidence of inactivity. Web search returned LKDDB and kernel docs confirming the supported hardware is old PCI parallel-SCSI silicon, and QEMU docs show an active guest-emulation use case via LSI53C895A. I found no concrete upstream removal discussion in the gathered evidence. Physical hardware appears long obsolete for new sales, but virtualization and legacy deployments likely persist at low volume.