[bonniescotland]

Hi there,
I have checked with the apple shop and they say no can do, but can anyone verify this?(as I have a sneaking suspicion they just want me to buy a new mac!)

Might be getting into photography as a business, so I have a powerbook 520c (serial) I would like to connect a usb digital camera up to it so that I can use the powerbook as a screen, or alternatively dump my photos on to it. I am told that it is possible to hook a serial device up to a usb computer using an adaptor, but not possible to do it the other way around.

I have a usb G4 desktop at home, I just want to use the powerbook 520c out in the field to show people immediately and myself (as difficult to judge on the camera's small LCD screen the quality of the photo). Of course the other issue would be, if I do dump the photos onto the powerbook 520C is there a way to dump them onto my G4 from my powerbook when I get home, and then dump them back to the powerbook again so that when I have modified them on my G4 I can take my powerbook to the client and show them what the photo looks like (rather than having to costly print them out)

Would the best bet to do all this be some kind of card reader (currently the camera I have is using Memory Stick, but might also occassionally borrow someone else's camera which has Smart Media)

I plan to get a great new powerbook by the end of the year (e.g. G4) but until then am saving up so just want to use my little powerbook 520c as best I can till I can find that millionaire oil barron who can afford to buy me all the up to date Mac stuff I would really like!
Thanks muchly for all your advice

[MickS]

USB to Serial the way you want to do it isn't going to be possible. I'm not sure whether it is technically possible but the market for such a solution has to be so small as to not make it cost effective.

Sony do sell a floppy disk adapter for memory sticks. You could get one of these and use it to transfer your images to the laptop. Though given the small HDD size of the 520c I'd get more memory sticks for storage and just use the laptop for viewing.

[bonniescotland]

Originally posted by MickS:
USB to Serial the way you want to do it isn't going to be possible. I'm not sure whether it is technically possible but the market for such a solution has to be so small as to not make it cost effective.

Sony do sell a floppy disk adapter for memory sticks. You could get one of these and use it to transfer your images to the laptop. Though given the small HDD size of the 520c I'd get more memory sticks for storage and just use the laptop for viewing.

Thanks so much for your help, this is just the info I needed! Just one last question though, do you know if I want to use another digital camera which has another type of media, e.g. smart media would their be a floppy adaptor for all these other type of media also, or can you use the same adaptor with all media?

[BTP]

I am afraid he's right.

There is a USB to serial, but not the other way around. Sorry.

I am not the final word, but I seriously doubt there would be a floppy adaptor for smart media, compact flash and the like. Memory sticks are smaller than other media and lend themselves to something as ingenious as the floppy adaptor.

The thing you need to watch here is spending more on getting an old computer to work with your camera than it is worth. With iBooks falling to $999 USD, I imagine that you could replace your laptop when the time comes for a reasonable sum.

I looked at a USB to Serial adaptor and they were $79 USD and a USB Reader was another $25. At those prices, which are reaonable, you are more than 10% of the way to a new computer. I know this deosn't really apply, as the adaptor is the wrong way for you, but I hope you get my point. With buying the floppy drive reader and memory sticks you might find yourself closer to 20%, maybe 30% of a new system. With a new system, it could connect directly to the camera, nothing additional needed.

I hope you find you oil barron, I as I tried to think of simple ways for you to get the job done and I can't think of any. Given that it is 7-8 years old, it is hard to get it to work well with newer devices and standards.

They may have been trying to sell you a new machine, but honestly, it is going to be a challenge to get it done. Also the speed and the storage size are going to pose issues for you as well, unless you are not taking many pictures and don't mind waiting.

Good luck!

[bonniescotland]

Originally posted by BTP:
I am afraid he's right.

There is a USB to serial, but not the other way around. Sorry.

I am not the final word, but I seriously doubt there would be a floppy adaptor for smart media, compact flash and the like. Memory sticks are smaller than other media and lend themselves to something as ingenious as the floppy adaptor.

The thing you need to watch here is spending more on getting an old computer to work with your camera than it is worth. With iBooks falling to $999 USD, I imagine that you could replace your laptop when the time comes for a reasonable sum.

I looked at a USB to Serial adaptor and they were $79 USD and a USB Reader was another $25. At those prices, which are reaonable, you are more than 10% of the way to a new computer. I know this deosn't really apply, as the adaptor is the wrong way for you, but I hope you get my point. With buying the floppy drive reader and memory sticks you might find yourself closer to 20%, maybe 30% of a new system. With a new system, it could connect directly to the camera, nothing additional needed.

I hope you find you oil barron, I as I tried to think of simple ways for you to get the job done and I can't think of any. Given that it is 7-8 years old, it is hard to get it to work well with newer devices and standards.

They may have been trying to sell you a new machine, but honestly, it is going to be a challenge to get it done. Also the speed and the storage size are going to pose issues for you as well, unless you are not taking many pictures and don't mind waiting.

Good luck!

Hi there, thanks for your advice. Actually I agree with you 100% about trying to get an old dog to do new tricks, when what I really need is a new computer, the reason however that I was thinking of using my ancient powerbook is because I am actually planning to buy one of the state of the art powerbooks probably at the end of 2003 (meanwhile I have a desktop G4 I can use when at home), just can't afford it right at the moment, I live in Australia so powerbooks here are double the price as in the States, so I was thinking if I could use my old powerbook just as a viewing device (cause I realise the more I think about it it isnt going to be great for storage) so that when I am out in the field at least I can get a big screen image of what I am taking photos of, also I can show clients then and there what the photo looks like, so they can order them from me.

Also I was thinking that even when I do buy the new powerbook will be a bit scared to take it out on the road on photo shoots as you are so busy taking photos it is easy for equipment to go walking, at least with the old powerbook wouldn't be such a big issue if it got stolen.

By the way you are right about the memory stick being the only card which has a floppy adaptor, as so far can't seem to find a similar adaptor for any other cards, and here in Australia the memory stick floppy adaptor is about $180 from Sony!

However some good news (perhaps!) Actually since making this enquiry I have discovered that there is such a thing called a PCMCIA adaptor, different ones for different media, so there is one for instance which you can use for a Flash card, another one for Memory Stick, etc. My old powerbook has a PCMCIA slot so am told this should work. In fact there is one that reads about 4 different media also. I saw one on Ebay which reads Flash cards for $20 (Australian) so have just taken the plunge and ordered it, if it doesn't work I guess it was only $20 wasted (can't remember if I mentioned but as well as Memory stick I occassionally borrow my dad's digital camera which has Flash card).

Thanks for all the advice everyone, will keep you posted as to whether it works or not.

[Eug]

I am not the final word, but I seriously doubt there would be a floppy adaptor for smart media

Smartmedia cards are tiny. I use a floppy adapter with my NT box at work.

However, floppy adapters are slow as hell. Just get the appropriate PCMCIA adapter.

The PCMCIA adapter for my Compact Flash cards is just a dumb connector adapter. Cost me about US$13.

The PCMCIA adapter for my Smart Media cards have a lot more electronics in them. Cost me considerably more.

The PCMCIA adapter for Memory Stick locally are about US$50.

What is the 4-in-1 PCMCIA adapter you saw? I'd be interested if I could get one for under $30.

[bonniescotland]

Originally posted by Eug:
Smartmedia cards are tiny. I use a floppy adapter with my NT box at work.

However, floppy adapters are slow as hell. Just get the appropriate PCMCIA adapter.

The PCMCIA adapter for my Compact Flash cards is just a dumb connector adapter. Cost me about US$13.

The PCMCIA adapter for my Smart Media cards have a lot more electronics in them. Cost me considerably more.

The PCMCIA adapter for Memory Stick locally are about US$50.

What is the 4-in-1 PCMCIA adapter you saw? I'd be interested if I could get one for under $30.

Hi there,
The PCMCIA 4 in 1 adaptor was selling on ebay,
here is the link
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....tem=1948815528

this is the Australian ebay site, but it was also showing on the American ebay site (www.ebay.com) not sure of the link though. The bidding for this particular one that I saw has actually ended now, but there seems to be others popping up so probably if you keep your eyes out you will spot another one, they were selling this one for $25 USD which seems pretty good. It supports Smart Media, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card and Memory Stick. So looks to me it can do them all except for Compact Flash.

Thanks for explaining to me re the electronics cause I wondered why the Flash adaptor seemed cheaper than the other cards.
also thanks for the advice about the floppy adaptor cause I had wondered what would be better, it appears that PCMCIA is better.

One thing I did wonder though is PCMCIA cross platform? because I noticed the flash one I bought said Mac compatible but there are other Flash adaptors being sold on Ebay which look different and say PC compatible. The 4 in 1 reader only mentioned PC compatibility. My understanding (which is limited seeing as I only discovered this whole PCMCIA thing about 4 days ago!) is that they are cross platform, and plug and play cause you don't need any software to run them, because it is a bit like putting a floppy into your drive it just automatically gets accepted. One thing I was told is that I might have to format my flash card for a Mac before putting it in the adaptor, so not sure if this is a simple procedure or not as haven't got the flash card with me at the moment to try it. Oh well will keep you all updated as to my success with all this. i hope it all works, cause it means that perhaps people have an option of using their old powerbooks as photos viewers if nothing else rather than throwing them out.

Gawd just read back on this, boy do I ramble, my apologies 11pm here in Oz so too tired to go back and edit it now!

[BTP]

Glad to hear you have an option, and an inexpensive one at that.

I also found one, but not quite as inexpensive. A Compact Flash to Ethernet adapter I found here .

Good luck.

[bonniescotland]

Well I am officially an idiot!

After I told you all that I ordered a PCMCIA card which I could use in my Powerbook 520C, I discovered that I had read the specs wrong for my powerbook, in actual fact it doesn't have a PCMCIA slot, but it has room to put one in. Basically you have to remove the left hand battery and put an Apple PCMCIA expansion module into it, then it will allow you to use a PCMCIA card. So to get it to work I would have to put this expansion module in, so god knows if anyone does this anymore, certainly when I rang the Apple shop they said that this expansion module thing is so ancient that they don't do it anymore.

So even if I can find an expansion module (had a look on ebay but didn't find one) I don't know how complicated it is installing it.
There is no guarantee after all that the PCMCIA card will work, as the powerbook 520C is (I believe) 16 bit, some of the PCMCIA cards are 32 bit (for instance I believe the PCMCIA card that can give you USB ports are 32 bit) I think the PCMCIA card that you use for Flash cards, memory sticks etc are still 16 bit but not entirely sure.

So I guess I should have just done what everyone told me in the first place, got rid of my old powerbook 520c spent the money and got a more modern one.
Oh well as you will guess from my log in name (bonniescotland) I am part Scottish and we Scots are known to be stingy when it comes to parting with cash! So I guess I can't help it, it's just genetic!

Anyway I now have this PCMCIA card that I can't use coming to me in the mail, but it only cost $20 from EBay so I guess if I ever get a new powerbook I can use it then!
thanks to everyone for their words of wisdom!