Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

ChillieMac · Sep 14, 2004, 07:51 PM

Does anybody here know of "interesting" PCMA cards to use in my new PowerBook? I don't need any additional ports (USB/2, Firewire, modem, ethernet blagh, blagh, blagh). I'm looking for things like GPS, tv tuners, radio tuners, xm radio, proximity or motion alarms to deter theft and so on.

Any other functions not mentioned are welcome also.

direinsanity · Sep 15, 2004, 10:45 AM

how about a fingerprint analizer, lets you log on by your fingerprint. it's at www.thinkgeek.com

ChillieMac · Sep 15, 2004, 01:24 PM

Not sure I have a use for it, but VERY cool!

Anyone else know of anything cool one can do on a PCMA card?

icruise · Sep 15, 2004, 01:26 PM

You can drive a second external monitor with one (so a total of 3 monitors, including the PowerBook's built-in monitor).

romeosc · Sep 15, 2004, 01:31 PM

I use a dazzle memory card reader to load pics from digital camera. Also comes in handy as a 128 MB removable hard drive to use as sneakernet method of keeping confidential info to be used on more than 1 PB. I bought 10 128MB smartmedia cards for $100 and it works great!

Luca Rescigno · Sep 15, 2004, 01:48 PM

Memory card readers and video cards have already been mentioned... well, there are cell phone modems you can get that use a cell phone connection to get internet access anywhere (even when there's no WiFi network nearby). I don't know if they work with Macs though. But I know a guy with a little Sony notebook that has one of those, and it provides him with 144 kbps internet access wherever he goes.

Another thing you can get (again, not sure if it works with Macs, but it's likely) is a PC card hard drive. Toshiba made a 5 GB hard drive that fits directly in the PC card slot. Not sure if they still do, and I recall it being very expensive, but that's still cool.

iomatic · Sep 15, 2004, 02:32 PM

Yes, when I had a 15" the PC Card method (PCMA?) of transferring images is speedy.

1) Also, Verizon has a network card, as well AT&T has a 3G-cell card available.
2) and also Margi (?) makes a monitor card for a third monitor (second external)

Enjoy. And if you need some help donating some of that money, let us know.

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
Memory card readers and video cards have already been mentioned... well, there are cell phone modems you can get that use a cell phone connection to get internet access anywhere (even when there's no WiFi network nearby). I don't know if they work with Macs though. But I know a guy with a little Sony notebook that has one of those, and it provides him with 144 kbps internet access wherever he goes.

Another thing you can get (again, not sure if it works with Macs, but it's likely) is a PC card hard drive. Toshiba made a 5 GB hard drive that fits directly in the PC card slot. Not sure if they still do, and I recall it being very expensive, but that's still cool.

Ruahrc · Sep 16, 2004, 01:26 AM

If you are into audio and music creation, you can get PCMIA sound cards which have enhanced recording/input capability and/or superior audio output capability. For example you could add a digital output to your laptop if you have a small set of 5.1 speakers in your room or something. There are also USB soundcards but the PC-card format would not add much bulk to your notebook.

speaking of which, does anyone know more about the sound capability of the internal PB soundcard?

Ruahrc

tooki · Sep 16, 2004, 02:02 AM

1. This question gets asked about every 4 months. Search is your friend.

2. It's "PCMCIA". No, wait. It was PCMCIA. Now it's "PC Card" for the 16-bit cards, "CardBus" for 32-bit. The PCMCIA is the standards body that defines the PC Card and CardBus standards (among others), not the name of the standard itself!

3. Realistically, on Macs they get used for
a) digital camera flash card readers
b) graphics cards
c) cellular modems
d) WiFi cards (on models without internal AirPort slots)
e) adding USB or FireWire buses

since Macs have pretty much everything built in already.

tooki

P.S. The audio capabilities vary by model. The 15" aluminum PowerBooks have 20-bit, 44.1KHz audio, while all other recent and current Apple laptops have 16-bit, 44.1KHz audio.

Ruahrc · Sep 26, 2004, 04:11 PM

Just found another cool way to use your slot- get a REX 6000 PDA. It is the size of a PCMCIA slot so you can just plug it in to sync.

Problem is that a) it's pretty old and the only place to find it is on ebay/classifieds although you can still find them
b) it only works if you sync via Virtual PC since there are no mac drivers.

Too bad. But it is a neat concept and maybe there is an alternative that is compatible with Macs natively?

Ruahrc

Jercro · Jul 9, 2006, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

1. This question gets asked about every 4 months. Search is your friend.

2. It's "PCMCIA". No, wait. It was PCMCIA. Now it's "PC Card" for the 16-bit cards, "CardBus" for 32-bit. The PCMCIA is the standards body that defines the PC Card and CardBus standards (among others), not the name of the standard itself!

Actually it is both and they mean different things:

PCMIA = Personal Computer Manufacturer Interface Adaptor

PCMCIA = Personal Computer Memory Card International Associaton

Not sure about the in connections or orientation of cards.

PCMIA is the standard Laptop interface for MOdems, NiC, etc.

Would assume that PCMCIA is just what it says, Memory card interface.

I don't know of any memory card that will fit into a PCMIA slot without some type of adapter. There is only one type of PCMIA slot. there are at least 6 or more types of memory cards that I can think of and each use a different interface/pin setup slot. Think both of the memory card readers I have have 4 slots, but some of the slots double for different card types.

ibook_steve · Jul 10, 2006, 12:46 AM

You realize this post is almost 2 years old, right?

Steve

Jercro · Jul 10, 2006, 08:59 AM

I noticed that after I had done the post. It came up in a search.

iomatic · Jul 10, 2006, 04:43 PM

Well, for the record I'm *back* to the 15" PowerBook and transferring images via CardBus CF reader is the way to go. Faster than FireWire (albeit by negligible margins).

Velocity211 · Jul 10, 2006, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by Jercro

Actually it is both and they mean different things:

PCMIA = Personal Computer Manufacturer Interface Adaptor

PCMCIA = Personal Computer Memory Card International Associaton

Not sure about the in connections or orientation of cards.

PCMIA is the standard Laptop interface for MOdems, NiC, etc.

Would assume that PCMCIA is just what it says, Memory card interface.

I don't know of any memory card that will fit into a PCMIA slot without some type of adapter. There is only one type of PCMIA slot. there are at least 6 or more types of memory cards that I can think of and each use a different interface/pin setup slot. Think both of the memory card readers I have have 4 slots, but some of the slots double for different card types.

Actually,

PCMCIA=Personal Computer Manufacturers Can't Invent Acronyms