Linux support for external Thunderbolt3 10gbE adapters

Question

I am investigating external Thunderbolt3 10gbE adapters to be used with Linux. i would love to have a device which is fully supported in Linux Kernel and has decent performance.

My current thoughts are about the QNAP QNA-T310G1T, which seems to be based on the Marvell(Aquantia) AQtion chipset (AQC-100, AQC-107, AQC-108).

The ones I found until now are

• QNAP QNA-T310G1T (confirmed Marvell AQtion AQC107)
• [OWC Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter][1] (evidence for no Linux support, but the OWC website suggests it also is based on AQC107)
• Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 Ethernet Adapter TH-S3EA (Linux support)

Does anyone have solid experience with any of those adapters, or has some other brand or driver to recommend? (here is a review from Jiri Brejcha, and there are some reported issues with AQC108).

Answer 1

I don't have direct experience, but I'd run a mile from anything without in-tree drivers. However it seems like all three of yours are Aquantia-based and drivers are in-tree (since kernel 4.11 apparently). I've run motherboards with Aquantia 2.5G/5G PCIe NICs and they have been fine using in-tree drivers, but I can't speak for the 10G NICs. I wouldn't rate them as highly as Intel NICs, but not sure any of those are available as external devices.

Being Thunderbolt shouldn't make much difference - these are just PCIe NICs behind a Thunderbolt bridge.