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pcmcia cards

M

Micom 2000

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Manitoba North of 50 degrees Latitude
What is the actual nomiclature of "PC Cards" ? I've seen "S-ram" or "PC-Cards" which are generally expensive, Mitsubishi cards for something else, and of course San-disk memory cards. I have a Sharp PC3000 and an HP 95lx which "possibly" take the same memory card.

Then of course there is the issue of cdrom adapters for PCCIA interfaces. I bought a "PC card" many years ago which was recognized on the Sharp but then destroyed it by formatting it. The same card is recognized by my 95lx but formatting it with the Format app does not give me any usage. I would like to use a cdflash adapter but wonder whether there are any "gotchas". Memory acceptance limits likely also play a role in these earlier MSDOS systems.

>Rant On

I also have "memory cards" which were available for my Compaq notebook which from what I can see only work on the Compaq, as do the odd-ball power adapters. The major companies obviously function on the old Sam Tramiel adage: "Sell'em cheap and then soak them on the add-ons or peripherals".

Part of why the bleatings of the IT hardware and software corporations about the deprivations of "piracy" have never moved me. These bastards simply don't want outsiders complicating their own rip-offs. They are virtually all unprincipalled predators on the public.
More so than any other industry. There have been some principalled manufacturers but they for the most part have departed us like Gary Kindall or Steve Wozniac, leaving the corporate gangsters in control. Linux and the free software movement was a breath of fresh air for a moment but the overwhelming advertising power and the obfuscation of how your system works has more or less castrated the general consumer. As the adage says, "BS baffles brains". Or lack there of.

Rant off <

Lawrence
 
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AFAIK, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association.
I've always called them PCMCIA cards because I find that easier to remember than "PC card" which is a bit confusing. Others here will no doubt tell you all about the "types".
 
The 16bit ones are PCMCIA the 32 bit versions are called cardbus or something (they tend to have a brass metal strip with bulges around the end you plug).
 
Thanks all. One of the best bit of info was that the PCMCIA socket standard was 68 pin.
I guess the next problem should I use a PC-card adaptor to CF will be the actual memory-handling capabilities of the device itself. I have a Win 3.1 package of ACT which has a 95lx module on it. Act itself I tended to dismiss since it was really meamt for salesmen rather than casual users needing a PIM. Best Electronics has I meg (and larger)PCMCIA cards for $15 which is considerably cheaper than most offerred on EPay.

The jury is still out on my comparing the HP95lx to the Atari Portfolio. The LX seems to be more powerfull but has a hgh learning curve. The DIP PC3000 still has my heart tho when it's working correctly. Maybe I have to learn how to exploit Lotus 123 after all these years. Even the PCjr. had it's version. To me it had always been a useless app taking up space and floating on the progamming bean counters spectre of Apple's Visicalc. I guess I have to try the Poqet, Psion and Palm Pilot.

Is there any unbiased comparison over a long time frame as to the most usable pocket computer, includng expandabilty ? The newest one I have is a Casio E-11 using CE whch is a total dud I guess my cut-off point would be MSDOS capability.

Lawrence
 
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Actually that site's link for the sundisk CF driver is no longer valid. You can find it however
on the SUPER site. The Sundisk driver also works on the Sharp PC3000 (DIP 2).

http://www.hp200lx.net/super7.html

From another thread, I ran across this site which has a good PCMCIA primer but also sells a bunch of different adapters and tools. Unfortunately they are also extremely pricey. In most cases much more than the going price for the older HP(and other) palmtops.

http://www.accurite.com/PCMCIAprimer.html

Lawrence

Sharkonwheels said:
For the 95LX, look here for more info on storage cards and compatibility.

T
Click to expand...
 
If you are looking to extend the RAM memory, I don't think you can use a CF card through an adapter. However if you are looking for a removable hard drive-like solution, it will probably work fine once you get the right drivers.
 
Micom - I posted that for the text, not the driver.
But at any rate, good catch - seems a few of the 200LX sites are in constant flux.

The PCMCIA carriers for CF are cheap as beans on eBay.
If you have patience, they can be bought from HK for like $6 SHIPPED!

T
 
carlsson said:
If you are looking to extend the RAM memory, I don't think you can use a CF card through an adapter. However if you are looking for a removable hard drive-like solution, it will probably work fine once you get the right drivers.
Click to expand...

With the sundisk driver you can use the pc card cf adapter on both the 95LX and the Sharp PC3000 (DIP/Atari Portfolio 2) but possibly only 32M CFs.

I guess I'll have to keep an eye on EPay for older Sundisk(now Sandisk) cards and the adaptors. I don't believe the micro HDs are an option. I'd be wary of the HK offerings wth free shipping. With present shipping costs, $6 would not likely even cover the shipping, unless the chinese merchants there have discovered teleportation. :^)

Lawrence
 
Hk

Hk

Micon2000 said...$6 would not likely even cover the shipping
Click to expand...
Or their post office isn't as greedy. I've gotten stuff from that part of the world with less problems then some stuff from the good 'ol U.S. of A.
patscc
 
Micom 2000 said:
With the sundisk driver you can use the pc card cf adapter on both the 95LX and the Sharp PC3000 (DIP/Atari Portfolio 2) but possibly only 32M CFs.

I guess I'll have to keep an eye on EPay for older Sundisk(now Sandisk) cards and the adaptors. I don't believe the micro HDs are an option. I'd be wary of the HK offerings wth free shipping. With present shipping costs, $6 would not likely even cover the shipping, unless the chinese merchants there have discovered teleportation. :^)

Lawrence
Click to expand...

The 95LX is pickier, but I have a Kingston 512MB card that works just dandy in 200LX/1000CX. Need the acecard3.com for it to be recoginized, but it works.

MUCH smaller RAM footprint for acecard3.com+512MB CF, than, say, 128/64MB card with Stacker. acecard2.com is like 10K, stacker.com is about 40K or so.

T
 
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