What kinda cool stuff can you use on a laptop pcmcia slot?

[Madcowz]

pcmcia is the same as PC slot (what my compaq calls it in the manual) right? I always wondered what I can use it for... it has just been sitting their, and I want to put it to good use. So what are some of the possibilities? How about firewire... do they have PCMIA firewire cards?

 

[AndyHui]

PCMCIA and PC CARD are normally interchangeable terms.

There are, however, 2 PC Card standards, the older one is PCMCIA, a 16-bit slot at 5 volts which is virtually equivalent to an ISA slot. The newer standard is called CardBus, a 32-bit slot at 3.3 volts, equivalent to a PCI slot in many ways.

Interesting stuff include SCSI cards for external CDROMs and hard drives, USB, Firewire, the usual LAN/Modem, Bluetooth adapters, adapters to link to cell phones for Internet/network connections, CompactFlash/SmartMedia...sound cards....there even used to be PCMCIA hard drives.

 

[Czar]

Is it possible to get a IDE controler with the ide connectors and power in a pcmcia version?

 

[AndyHui]

Probably not power, but there should be a PCMCIA device which provides access to an external drive enclosure. Power would have to come from a separate adapter.

 

[mmnatas]

Wireless internet! I love my wireless PCMCIA card!

 

[Workin']

<< there even used to be PCMCIA hard drives >>

There still are! Toshiba is sampling a 2GB drive that fits in a Type II PCMCIA slot. Others are for Type III slots.

Oh, you forgot to mention the difference between Type II and III PCMCIA slots - Most newer lappys can use 2 Type II's at the same time or 1 Type III. The Type III's are twice as thick as Type II's.

<< Is it possible to get a IDE controler with the ide connectors and power in a pcmcia version? >>

Yes, but you have to use laptop-style HD's (i.e., 2.5&quot; drives) with it.

 

[bacillus]

and don't forget that you can get a laptop cooler accessory fan to fit into that pcmcia slot!
really helps keep that laptop cooler!

 

[Zenmervolt]

I run my ZIP 250 USB from my PCMCIA slot with the adapter. The PCMCIA adapter plugs into a proprietary port on the ZIP drive, and powers the drive. It also changes the interface from USB to 16 bit IDE, which I have noticed increases the transfer speed by a small but noticable margin over the USB connection. There are PCMCIA cards for almost everything, and IBM's Microdisk is a PCMCIA HDD, currently at up to 1GB, should be a 2GB coming not too far in the future as well.

Zenmervolt

 

[corkyg]

My laptop has both Cardbus slots filled . . . Ethernet 10/100 in one and a digital image media reader in the other. I also had a SCSI card, but gavce that to my son. The laptop has a Firewire port, so that is where my CDRW hangs out, and it is linked to an Orangemicro Firewire/SCSI converter which in turn accesses some external SCSI devices.

I also have an external IDE drive housing with a PCMCIA controller (Bullet Drive Express by Road Warrior) which allows me to clone the internal IDE drive. That IDE adapter, however, does require an external (provided) power module. There are also hardware DVD adapters, and wireless link adapters available.