pcmcia adapter for desktop computer???

[Soundguy]

Ok.. this one has stumped me. Guy in the next office over just asked me what he can do to use all of his laptop goddies on his home pc... His laptop goodies he wan't to use are pcmcia cards. I had no answer but promised him I would look. Does anyone make a pcmcia adapter for desktop pc's?

I'm almost thinking yes for one reason. I bought one of those zip 'click' drives a while back.. and the drive is pcmcia.. but comes with a usb docking station to copy the files to your desktop.. the docking station looks for all intents and purposes like a usd to pcmcia adapter, by configuration.. though i have never had anything plugged into my click docking station other than the pcmcia click drive...

??????

Soundguy

 

[California]

I've seen pcmcia slots installed in 3.5 or 5.25 drive-bay mounts, but these were used salvage. I don't know what the original application was.

Maybe find them on Ebay?

 

[BamaRob]

A quick Google search yielded:

http://www.elandigitalsystems.com/adapter/index.php

http://www.synchrotech.com/

You knew there had to be a way.... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[DocHeb]

NewEgg sells one for $19.99 plus $4.99 three-day shipping.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, I have seen them before. They go in the card slots, so if you want to swap stuff often, you have to have access to the rear of the computer.

I don't know if they make USB external versions or not.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of things do these cards do that his home PC cannot? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[thcri]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(

Just out of curiosity, what kind of things do these cards do that his home PC cannot? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif )</font>


Yeah I would be curious also. I have had about 4 laptops now in my day and for the most part the slot was used for network cards. Now most laptops have internal network cards and the slot in my now laptop of two years doesn't get used until about two months ago I bought wireless card for when I travel. My daughters new laptop even had a wireless built in. She doesn't even have the pcmcia slot.

murph

 

[mathey]

I have the one mentioned above from Newegg...works like a charm. Use it with verizon wireless aircard. not bad for $25

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Just out of curiosity, what kind of things do these cards do that his home PC cannot? )</font>

He has a high speed mobile internet card ( aircard? ) that he uses as he travels out of state every week. He dropped his regular dial up internet account on his home pc and just use dthe laptop as his sole internet account and machine... now he wants to get on the internet with his desktop again, and just wants to swap the card over... I mentioned he could setup a network.., etc.. but he also likes the wireless G /II/B card features on the aircard ( not that he has a wireless network at his house.. so the g/ii/b is useless.. but the wireless hi-speed inet would be usefull though.. )

Soundguy

 

[SnowRidge]

He should make sure the adapter is Cardbus compatible (32 bit) and not just PCMCIA (16 bit). I suspect his high speed wireless card is a 32 bit Cardbus card.

I agree with whoever said get one for a drive slot, so that he doesn't have to mess with the back side of the PC

 

[MossRoad]

That would make sense, I guess. No need to invest in another card.

Have you seen the wireless routers with the card slot in them? You put in your highspeed card and have a wireless access point anywhere you are. If he had one of those, he could come home, pop his hispeed card in it and have wirelss access to his hispeed account from any PC in his house that was wireless capable. I think some also have CAT5 jacks to connect wired devices, too.

 

[Soundguy]

Hey.. now that sounds pretty swift!

Soundguy

 

[SnowRidge]

Here is a write up on one. Nobody offers high speed wireless out here in the hinterland, yet. When they do, it's bye bye ISDN.

 

[BillG_in_TX]

Snowridge,

Thanks for the link. I ordered one of those KR1's today to go with a free S620 access card from Sprint. I hope to be able to dump the shared T1 line at my office by the end of the month.

I'm in the Sprint hi-speed coverage map and get 4 bars on my Sprint phone in the office, so it sounds promising. There's a 14 day trial, so little risk. I'll report back after it's up and running (or not). /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[SnowRidge]

Good to know it was useful. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, that's a cool one. I've seen several of the "stomp box" styles and a few more that were more expensinve than that one. I have a friend that has the SPRINT service and he said it works from Indiana to Philly without interruption on the tollways. His company pays about $69.00 a month for unlimited downloads. Not bad for always on where ever you are.

 

[SnowRidge]

I've been looking at the coverage maps for Verizon and Sprint. I don't think we will have to wait too much longer before we can give broadband wireless a try. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Mrwurm]

I have one that I plug into a USB port. I can then plug-in any PCMCIA card. I found mine on ebay after searching many computer stores and finding nothing similiar. I've attached a pic of one that is a different brand than mine, but similiar in design.

 

[Mrwurm]

Here is another one. I still can't find a pic of the brand that I have.

Oops, thats the same one that BamaRob linked to /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Soundguy]

Thanks guys.. I got his modem info and then showed him which readers were compatible.. left the rest up to him..

Soundguy

 

[BillG_in_TX]

Well, I don't think the EVDO card + KR1 combo is going to work for me. The KR1 is on backorder, but I just cancelled it, and I will be returning the Sprint S620 card.

The best throughput I could get in my office with the S620 was about 500 kbps down and 60 up, but it was often less than 400 kbps down. That's not fast enough, especially shared through a KR1 router. The theoretical maximum is 2.4 mbps down, but that's obviously just theoretical, since I'm getting 6 bars of reception on the card (best signal).

Sprint tech support said "that's pretty good" throughput (400-500 kbps). /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif