TB3 Optical Corning Cable doesn't work on ZimaCube Pro!

Hardware ZimaCube
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1

So im trying to connect via Thunderbolt Bridge on ZimaCube Pro using a Thunderbolt 3 Optical cable by Corning and it doesn’t work at all, if i connect two Macs with this cable the bridge creates automatically but on the Zimacube Pro doesn’t, please help! ( Running ZimaOS v1.5.4 ) https://www.corning.com/oem-solutions/worldwide/en/home/products-solutions/active-optical-cables/thunderbolt-optical-cables.html

2

The Corning TB3 optical cable isn’t supported for Thunderbolt Bridge on ZimaCube Pro.

Mac <> Mac works because macOS is very forgiving with Thunderbolt networking. ZimaOS is not.

On ZimaCube Pro, Thunderbolt Bridge expects a standard Thunderbolt 3/4 copper cable. Optical TB3 cables:

  • don’t provide bus power
  • can fail Thunderbolt link negotiation on Linux
  • often won’t bring up thunderbolt-net even though they’re TB-certified

That’s why the bridge never appears on ZimaOS, but does on Macs.

Fix: use a short TB3/TB4 copper cable (≤ 0.8–1 m). Once connected, the bridge should appear automatically.

This is a known Linux/Thunderbolt limitation, not a fault with your cable or the ZimaCube.

3

What a bummer, now I can’t return this cable ;(