PEAK-System PCAN-PCI Express FD CAN bus adapters
PCI Express add-in cards from German vendor PEAK-System that bridge a PC to CAN and CAN-FD buses, the serial networks used in cars, industrial machinery, and lab test rigs. The PCAN-PCI Express FD line has been sold since the mid-2010s and remains in production, with one- to four-channel variants aimed at automotive ECU development and factory automation.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because PEAK-System still sells these cards new in 2025 and actively maintains Linux support, with upstream patches landing as recently as November 2025. Although deployments are niche (industrial and automotive CAN-FD work), the hardware family is current rather than legacy.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
The driver was still receiving targeted upstream maintenance in late 2025 (peak_canfd ndo_hwtstamp callback conversion), which argues against deprecation/removal.
- peak-system.com
PEAK-System still listed PCAN-PCI Express FD hardware for sale, including Linux driver support, indicating the hardware family remained sold new in 2025.
- peak-system.com
PEAK-System's Linux support page lists 'PCAN-PCI Express FD' as supported by mainline kernels since 4.12, showing current vendor-supported Linux deployment relevance.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_CAN_PEAK_PCIEFD remains present through current kernels and maps to PEAK PCI device IDs handled by this driver.
- peak-system.com
The older non-FD PCAN-PCI Express product page points users to the FD four-channel card as the manufactured alternative, reinforcing that peak_canfd covers the current product line rather than a legacy-only niche.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this directory builds CONFIG_CAN_PEAK_PCIEFD for PEAK-System PCAN-PCIe FD cards only; no broader helper-library role. lore_activity on peak_canfd.c and peak_pciefd_main.c showed active 2025 maintenance and no removal-thread evidence in the sampled history. Web search found the official PEAK product page and Linux support matrix confirming the hardware family was sold/supported in 2025. Web search also found LKDDb confirming ongoing upstream presence. Industrial/automotive PCIe CAN-FD adapters are real but niche today, so deployments are low rather than none.