http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACARD-AEC-6890-2-Channel-PCI-to-IDE-SATA-RAID-Controller-/261304400314?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item3cd6f4b9banow this differs frm teh model that i have which is the AEC-6890M ("M on the end denoting mac version")
in that it is lacking this 2 switch DIPSWITCH blue box that is next to the bios chip with the white sticker on it on my version
but apart from that they are identical and i would expect that it may be possible for me to copy the firmware of my card
to give someone the ability to flash this card to a mac version..
just recording this for the future in case anyone is interested in pursuing this i would of course assist by attempting to copy the 6890m firmware from the card that i have.
the dipswitch functionality tho is what chooses the raid mode so it may be stuck using it as a normal adapter or it may be stuck in raid1 or raid0 mode... it would have to be an experiment!
but the 6890M cards are now EOL and Acard no longer has any of them in stock.
u can even see on the card the picture depicting the different block modes.. u can read the pcb also indicates 1: striping 2: normal 3: mirror 4: reserved - these corresponding to the settings on the dipswitch.. if it were present.. no idea why they would omit this on the windows version?
my bios chip also has a white sticker on it and instead it says: "ACARD BIOS AEC-6890M VER 2.43 copyright ACARD 2003"
the card itself is exactly the same though they put another whtie sticker over the top left model name next to "Serial ATA" and it says "AEC-6890M" but of course if i were to peel this sticker off the actual card itself is exactly the same as this the only difference being that this one is missing the dipswitc control. perhaps they have some type of windows based software to change the mode and store the setting in the bios.. or perhaps it is controlled via a bios screen on boot on a pc.. im guessing..
but im pretty sure that mac compatibility could be achieved by copying my bios chip + reflashing!
i have looked at the bios chip under the sticker and it is:
Winbond
W29EE512P-70
224073801
249WGRA
listed as "64K X 8 CMOS FLASH MEMORY"